All Out Battle Royale!
by alberto12
Summary: Maka and her fellow classmates have been kidnapped by none other than the Kishin himself. He plans to have Maka and the other "contestants" fight to the death in an all out battle royale! Betrayal, death, romance, heartbreak! Find it all here on this ongoing series!
1. Chapter 1

All Out Battle Royale

"Maka?"

_Huh? Who is that?_

"Maka!"

_Someone's calling my name…_

"Maka! Wake up!"

The young girl's eyes go wide as she sits up and finds herself being held by Soul. "Maka are you okay?"

Maka blinks and wipes her eyes that are just barely beginning to adjust. She was confused. Why did Soul sound so concerned? Her question was answered just as her eyes adjusted. As Maka looks around, she realizes that she is surrounded by fellow students. From the looks of it, they were just waking up like she had. Kid was rubbing his head while Liz and Patty were by his side. Black*Star was questioning everybody around him as to where they were while Tsubaki tried to calm him down.

"S-Soul, what's going on?" As she asks this, Soul looks away, unsure of how to answer her. "I don't know."

Maka glances around to see that they were on what appeared to be the corner of a beach. The waves weren't too high and it seemed pretty peaceful despite the strange situation they were in. It was just about that moment that a hand lightly grasped her shoulder. Maka turns around and is surprised to see Sid Barett.

"Maka, I need to know if there's anything at all that you remember before coming here? Anything at all?"

The way he addressed the question made Maka shiver. He sounded confused and desperate. The Sid she knew never was like that.

She shook her head and looked down sadly. "No I'm afraid I don't remember anything, Sid-sensei…"

The zombified male nods and gives a slight sigh as he looks to his right. "I see. So it seems nobody remembers how we got here."

Soul scoffs and raises his brow. "Seriously? Nobody remembers anything?"

Sid crosses his arms and shrugs. "Well not exactly everybody but…" He looks to the side and points. "…if you want to ask them, go ahead." Both Soul and Maka look to where Sid points and their eyes go wide.

It was Medusa and her group. Mizune, Eruka, and Free were all huddled together with her, giving cautious glances to everyone. Not too far from them were Noah and his group as well. Gopher was glaring at anyone who made eye contact and Giriko simply had a look of boredom as though he didn't care. The look that Justin had however, was a bit scary. He was calm but a bit too calm. It almost looked as though he was smiling.

"Maka? Soul? Any idea what's going on?"

Kid walks over to the pair with his hands in his pockets, Liz and Patty at his side. Maka gives a weak shrug and Soul shakes his head. "Sorry, we don't know anything." Kid furrows his brows and nods slowly. "I see…Well that's not good."

Patty quickly runs off towards the water and giggles. "C'mon guys! It's a beach! Lets have some fun!"

Kid glances at Soul and Maka and gives a slight shrug, following Patty. "I don't see why not." Liz follows after Kid and Patty, sighing and shaking her head. "Really you two…swimming at a time like this…"

"I demand to know where we are! I must know at once! I am the mighty Black*Star!"

Maka sighs as she hears the blue haired male running around and ranting with Tsubaki chasing after him and trying to calm him down.

Soon, Sid finally decides to rally everyone (well mostly everyone. Medusa and Noah's groups excluded) and tries to get to the bottom of this. "Okay…so any ideas? Any ideas at all?"

A hand shoots up and everyone turns to look at Ox Ford with a determined look. "It could be possible that we have been kidnapped!"

Soul rolls his eyes. "Kidnapped? For real? How do you explain us being kidnapped? Wouldn't Lord Death know if we were kidnapped?"

Ox smirks and continues. "Unless we were taken somewhere that not even Lord Death knows about!"

With that, everybody goes quiet. After a moment, Kim pokes Ox on the shoulder and whispers, "But if Lord Death doesn't know that we're here…isn't that a bad thing?" Ox tenses up and looks down, nodding. "I hadn't really thought that far…"

Sid crosses his arms and sighs. "So any other possible explanations for this?" When no one says anything he steps forward. "Alright then. It seems that either way, we have to find a way out of here." A murmur of agreement goes out from all the students when the sudden sound of a booming voice makes everyone stop.

"Escape? Ha! Just where do you think you are?"

The voice sent a chill down Maka's spine. It couldn't be. Not him. But it was. The Kishin, Asura.

He grinned upon everyone, his arms crossed as he dropped down from the sky. "It seems that so far everything is according to plan."

Maka shivered as she gazed upon the Kishin. He was just as scary as when they first met him. The sudden feel of an arm around her makes her look. "Don't freak out. Keep it cool, Maka." His words sent a reassurance to her and she takes a deep breath, shaking off her fear.

Everyone else seemed to be in shock and total horror. Well, everyone but Medusa and Noah. They both looked pleased for some reason. The Kishin takes a step forward and all of the DWMA students scramble back, trying to get away.

Asura chuckles lowly and grins. "Oh how fun. You ants seem to fear me. But I'm simply here to explain." Sid regains his composure and clenches his fists. "Explain what?"

"Everything. Such as why you woke up here. That was my doing."

At this point, everybody was listening. Even Maka wanted to get to the bottom of this and find out what the Kishin was playing at.

"You're all test subjects. As part of an experiment I'm conducting." Asura smirks and looks at everyone for a moment before continuing. "I've decided to have a bit of fun. Are you ready?" No one says anything, dead silence filling the entire area. Asura laughs and grins widely. "In the next 30 days, you will all be trapped here in my world that I created. Yes, that's right, I created it! Madness has enough to even do this! It was all created from my madness! And no one, and I mean no one can enter this area!"

His words strike Maka with shock. _No one can get in? Not even Lord Death? _

He goes on, "This is going to be an all out battle royale! The winner lives, everyone else dies! There can only be one left standing by the end of the 30 day period. If that isn't the case…if there's more than one living soul still alive on the 30th day…then BOOM!" Asura cackles with laughter and grabs his hair. "You all die! That's the way the game works!"

Soul glares at Asura, a look of disgust on his face. _This dude's insane! _

Asura all of a sudden, stops laughing and glances at everyone, making contact will all the living souls around him. "But first…just to be sure we all know I'm for real, I'll need a sacrifice…"

The sudden comment made Pot of Thunder and Pot of Fire whimper as they hid behind Kilik. Maka gulped as she bit on her lip. _A sacrifice…? _She looks around to see everyone looking at each other. Was anyone going to volunteer? Maka doubted it but for some reason she wanted someone to. _Oh what am I thinking! If no one volunteers than…_

She looks over at Soul and a sudden fear fills her. What if Asura decided to kill Soul as the sacrifice? _No…I won't let that happen…Soul is my partner…I won't let him die…_

"No volunteers?" Asura tilts his head as he starts to walk forward, his eyes glued to Maka's.

Soul's eyes widen as he sees who the Kishin is looking at. He steps in front of Maka with his hands out. "No. Not Maka. Don't you lay a finger on my meister!" Asura snorts with laughter as he continues forward. "Do you see any volunteers, kid? I don't. That means I choose who I get to kill. Now stand aside unless you want to die."

"No. I won't."

Out of fear and desperation, Maka grabs Soul's arm. "D-Don't Soul…! I…I don't want you to-"

"I'll volunteer."

The sudden voice made everybody look. Maka gasped as she saw Sid step forward. "Don't hurt the kids. I volunteer…"

Asura raises his brow and turns to face him. "Oh?"

Maka wanted to scream. To tell Sid not to do it. But the words were caught in her throat. Soul's eyes were wide with shock. Kid quickly yells out, "Sid-sensei, don't-"

Sid puts his hand up to silence Kid and he shakes his head. "It has to be done. Its better me than you. I can't risk you kids getting hurt. Besides…this is the kind of man I was."

"N-No…" Maka weakly utters the word and tries to reach for Asura, to somehow stop him.

Then it happened. It was so fast yet Maka saw it so clearly. She had blinked once and in that mere moment Asura's hand pierced through Sid's chest.

A scream was caught in Maka's throat and Soul quickly hid her face as he held her to his chest. "Don't look Maka…"

Screams and cries of horror were heard from those who saw the Kishin kill Sid. Maka sobbed into Soul's chest as she heard the sound of Sid's body hit the floor.

Asura snickers and crosses his arms as he begins to levitate away. "Well then. Let the games begin."

With a twisted laughter, Asura soon disappears and everyone is left in a state of utter fear.

END OF CHAPTER ONE  
DEATH COUNT: 1  
R.I.P. Sid Barett


	2. Chapter 2

**Note: **Crona appears in this chapter and I decided to call Crona a "he" in this series. Not to start controversy but just since it would be a bother or strange for me to refer to Crona as "they/it/child" all the time. With that aside, enjoy chapter 2!

It had been around ten minutes since Sid's death yet Maka found herself unable to move from her spot. No matter how many times Soul urged or prodded her, she wouldn't move. By then, Noah's group had disappeared going into the forest directly to the right of the beach. Medusa's group on the other hand was still on the beach with everyone else, although it could be seen that Medusa orders Mizune to go do something and the small witch soon flies off.

"Maka…We…We have to go…." Soul sighs and lightly shoves Maka. She shakes her head and hugs her knees. "Sid's dead. The Kishin killed Sid." Soul nods slowly and tries not to look at the corpse. "I know but…you can't just keep sulking like this…"

"Why not!?" Maka quickly gets to her feet and glares with teary eyes. "What do you expect me to do! Participate in this stupid death battle! Is that what you want!?"

The white haired male looks away, saying nothing and biting his lip. Maka gives a hard sigh and holds her arm. "Sorry Soul…didn't mean to yell at you." He waves it off and sticks his hands in his pockets. "Don't worry about it." Wiping her eyes, Maka looks around, surveying who to approach. That's when she saw someone she hadn't seen before. Crona. The nervous child was standing beside Sid's corpse, staring at him.

_Why didn't I notice Crona before! Did Crona look when the Kishin killed Sid…_

Slowly walking forward, Maka extends her arm, reaching for the pink haired child. "Crona…"

Quickly looking up, Crona's eyes widen. The child shivers and backs away, shaking his head. Maka gives him a confused look as she continues to approach. "Don't be afraid Crona…it's me, Maka…I won't hurt you…"

"N-No…!" Shaking his head furiously, Crona turns and begins to run into the forest, away from Maka. Shocked and afraid to lose her friend, Maka starts to run but is stopped by Soul. "Let him go." Maka bites her lip as she watches the pink haired boy rush into the forest, alone. "But what if someone in there tries to hurt Crona?"

Soul shrugs and leads her away. "I don't know. But you know that Crona is far from weak, right? If anyone attacked him it'd be chaos."

Soul ponders on his own words and frowns a bit. _Chaos…just as bad as madness…What the hell is the Kishin thinking…_

Joining up with Kid and Black*Star, Maka and Soul sit down. Tsubaki was crying while Patty and Liz tried to comfort her. Kid was the only calm one it seemed. Even Black*Star was having a tough time realizing what just happened. "He's coming back right? Sid-sensei? The Kishin was just trying to scare us? Right?"

Kid sighs and faces Maka. "We lost the only teacher here…Sid's gone…We're on our own now." Maka gives a slight nod and a nervous glance back to Medusa's group that was still here.

Medusa was sitting on the sand, her arms crossed. "DWMA…how pathetic…Those children will be dead by the end of the week. If not by me, then by someone in their own group who snaps." Free gives a grunt of agreement but Eruka remains uncertain. "What if they come after us? All of them? There's too many of them for us to handle at once…"

The snake witch rolls her eyes and scoffs. "Do you really think these children are killers? You think they'd willingly participate? I think not." Free scratches his head and speaks up. "But the kids aside…there's still one other group that we know nothing about." Medusa frowns at the comment. "Oh…the fellow with the book of Eibon. Right."

Noah's group had been the only to leave the beach area and head to the forest. The dark skinned man known as Noah sat by a tree, his arms crossed. "What's taking Justin so long?"

Giriko shrugs and spits on the floor. "When you gotta go, you gotta go. Either that or let your bladder explode, boss." Noah sighs and nods in agreement. "I suppose." Staying closely by Noah, Gopher held the book of Eibon tightly, his cheeks puffed. "Noah-sama what's your awesome plan?"

"My plan?" The male sorcerer grins and stares up at the sky. "Simple. We separate ourselves from the rest to avoid conflict with them. When the herd thins out, we attack. By the near end of the month they should all be tired and wounded. We'll come in for the kill." Gopher gives an excited gasp and looks at Noah with anticipation. "You're so cool, Noah-sama!"

The brown haired male however, looked displeased. "Lets say we kill them all, what then? Didn't the damn Kishin say only one could be left standing?" Noah gives Giriko a crooked smile. "Trust me my good man, I have a plan for that as well."

Back at the beach, Kid tries to emerge as the leader and rally everyone. At this point though, Ox, Kim, and Kilik remained unconvinced. "How do you expect to get out of here? Didn't the Kishin say there was no way to escape" Kilik asks.

Kid looks away and bites on his tongue. "Well…yes that's true but…we can find a way out. All of us. No one has to die." Kilik shakes his head and points to Sid. "No one has to die!? Look at Sid! Look at him, dude! He's…he's dead! Gone!"

Kim breaks down and cries, Jackie holds her and attempts to comfort her. Ox's weapon and partner, Harvar steps forward and looks at Kid. "No one dying is illogical. From the viewpoint of myself, I see a hopeless standpoint in escape. You have to recall that murder isn't the only way someone can die. Starvation. Dehydration. Disease."

Nods of agreement go through the group and even Maka nodded her head, knowing that it was a good point. Kid refused to hear it, however. "That's why we have to work together! If we all just leave and form our own small groups it'll only make things worse! Medusa and Noah both have groups of their own. They could easily kill us one by one if we separate. We have to stay together you guys!"

Sighing, Soul goes beside Kid and pats him on the shoulder. "I'm with Kid on this one. We stick together." Kid smiles at Soul and gives him a nod of approval.

"So…now what?" Liz asks. Everyone looks at each other, uncertain of what to do. Kid points towards the forest. "We look for food. We can't plan our escape on empty stomachs right?"

Watching the DWMA students closely, Medusa hisses and shakes her head. "Those children are hopeless." Eruka nervously approaches Medusa and quietly speaks. "Um…Lady Medusa…what about your child? Crona? Didn't he go into the forest alone?"

Medusa snaps her head back and gives Eruka a look that makes her yelp. "So what if Crona went into the forest? What's your point you miserable toad!"

Before Eruka can say anything, Free points towards the sky. "It's Mizune. She's back." The mouse witch soon ascends from her flight and stands before the group. Medusa steps forward, her hands on her hips. "Well? What did you find?"

"Chi chi chi" The mouse witch replies, pointing into the forest. Eruka tilts her head. "There's snow beyond those trees? Really?"

Mizune nods and goes on. "Chi chi. Chi chi chi." Free gives a worried look at her comment. "A desert too? Argh…I hate the heat…."

Medusa thinks for a moment and then nods. "Very well. We start moving now. Mizune go search for food. And come back if you see any other souls. We need their location." The witch nods and levitates for a moment, then flies off.

In his own private quarters where no one could see or get to him, the Kishin Asura grinned as he surveyed the contestants through a system of cameras. "I got to admit, these cameras are awfully handy. I'll have to thank Arachne when I finish using them." He could already see the contestants separating into their own groups. _This is good…very good…_

Asura's grin gets wider as he notices Crona on his camera. "Heh. There you are my ticking time bomb."

Looking at a lever on his control panel, Asura grins. "Let's see if anyone is afraid of the dark." Pulling the lever, the entire island begins to darken, until it was nearly pitch black. "Happy hunting." Asura chuckles and licks his lips.

END OF CHAPTER 2  
DEATH COUNT: 1


	3. Chapter 3

"Just great…the dark…" Kilik Rung shook his head and held his weapons, Pot of Thunder and Pot of Fire who were whimpering in his arms. "Everything okay?" Kim walks towards Kilik, with Jackie in her lantern form. He nods and looks at his weapons. "I'm fine. But they're not looking too hot."

Ox quickly steps forward, shaking. "Oh man I am glad we have you Jackie! What would we do without you! You're probably the only light source here all night!"

Harvar gives a displeased look and crosses his arms. "Light attracts though. Who knows who or what may see our light. We're vulnerable." Realizing that Harvar has a point, Kim hesitates. "But without Jackie, we can't see." Harvar crosses his arms. "I'd rather not be able to see than rather risk the chance of us being attacked. Especially since we got separated from the others."

Nodding, Kim looks at Jackie and mutters. "Change back…"

"You sure?" Jackie asks nervously. Kim nods and whispers, "Yeah." Pot of Fire crawls into Kilik's lap, scared and nervous while Pot of Thunder tugs on Kilik's arm, trying to get him to do something. "This is going to be a long night…"

"Where the hell is she!?" Medusa snaps as she staggers around in the dark, clinging to a tree. Eruka goes over to help Medusa stand and gives a shrug. "We don't know…but chances are she can't see very well in the dark either. We'll have to wait for morning to hear from Mizune." Medusa pulls away from Eruka and snarls. "We don't have that long. I need to know everything about this place. Now! Mizune is the only one who can do that for us, you stupid frog girl!"

Looking down and biting her lip, Eruka shuts up. Free puts his hand on the shoulder of the frog witch. "Don't worry about it Eruka. Just keep your distance from Lady Medusa for now. It seems she isn't in a good mood."

Farther out in the forest were Noah and his group, struggling to see in the near pitch black dark. The greedy collector squinted as he saw a figure up ahead. "That better be Justin back from taking his daily piss…"

"It is, mister Noah." The blonde priest smiled but he doubted that Noah could see. Noah nodded slowly as he recognized the voice and he relaxed. _Was I actually scared for a second? No, it couldn't be…_The sorcerer shakes off the thought and keeps walking. Justin narrowed his eyes and let out a slight sigh in relief. It seemed Noah didn't see the blood on his clothes. Not yet, at least. He'd have to change soon. Otherwise the blood would start to smell. _We can't have my bloody clothes attracting attention now can we…No that would be very bad. _

Still at the beach but now in the dark, Maka and the others huddled together in a group. "Everybody here? Are we all here?" Kid asks, trying to get a closer look at the group. Maka shakes her head and squints, trying to look more clearly. "I can't find Ox or Kilik. I don't think Kim is here either."

Kid sighs and sits down, holding his knees. "This sucks. I'll bet the Kishin did this. Mark my words…I'll rip that damned freak in half!" The young shinigami glares at the ground angrily and clenches his fist. Liz puts her hand on Kid's shoulder and the young male looks up and is surprised that even in the dark he could see her worried expression. "Kid…right now isn't the time to be making threats…okay?"

He looks down and nods, relaxing himself. "Yeah…you're right. Sorry about that. I'm just mad…about Sid…He risked his life for us…"

Maka found herself still hurting as Kid mentioned Sid. They hadn't exactly been close but he was still someone she had known. It was difficult to comprehend that he was gone now. She glances over at Soul and her stomach tightens. _What if no one had volunteered? Would it have been Soul? _Maka shivers at the thought and holds herself.

"Maka are you alright?" Soul looks over at her with concern. Maka shakes her head. She couldn't lie in a situation like this. She wasn't alright. She wanted to go home. He gives her a look of sadness and then looks away. _What am I supposed to tell her…"hey it's okay we'll be fine"? As if…_

Despite the darkness, Crona found it easy to move around. The only problem was, he was alone. Completely alone. He was probably the only one who wasn't in a group. _T-They're all going to kill me…all of them…I-I don't want to die…_

Dwelling on his thoughts, Crona lets out a cry as his foot hits a stump of a tree and he falls face down on the ground. Whimpering in pain and slowly sitting up, Crona wipes his nose that begins to bleed. The young pink haired boy soon finds himself in tears and crying. His thoughts were soon filled with images of his first friend, Maka. _Why didn't I trust her…why did I run away…Maka…_

"Hey! Quit your crying and get moving you lousy little punk!" The voice was none other than Ragnarok who emerged from Crona's back in that instant. Crona whimpers in pain as Ragnarok puts him in a headlock and punches his head. "I said quit crying you little runt!" Crona struggles to get away from his grasp and cries out. "S-Stop it, Ragnarok…! D-Don't!"

Ragnarok scoffs and ignores him. "Or else what, huh? What will lame old Crona do?"

"I said STOP!" Crona's sudden anger makes Ragnarok come to an abrupt stop. "Whoa! Calm down there, Crona! You sure get scary when you're angry! But you should move now. Someone might have heard you." With that, Ragnarok returns inside Crona's body and the shy child ventures on, continuing to run. After a moment, Crona stops. He was stepping on something new. Something different. It was like a liquid but a bit thicker. The pink haired boy sniffs and then covers his mouth. _W-What is that smell…?_

As he looks down, his eyes widen. He was standing over a puddle of blood and a body was directly in front of it. Crona shrieks and staggers back, falling to the ground as he stares in horror at the body. It had been completely annihilated. The corpse had been nearly ripped apart. The only thing that made the body recognizable was the hat. It was Mizune's. Someone had killed the mouse witch. She was the first true victim of this game. Someone who wasn't Asura had killed her. Whimpering and getting to his feet, Crona walks around the body and runs forward, nearly crying.

The Kishin seemed to be having fun. Laughing madly as he looked at the camera where Crona had been, Asura was indeed having a good time. "This is perfect. It seems we already have a killer on our hands. And I'll admit I'm a bit surprised about our little culprit…" He grins and chuckles, staring at the rest of the cameras. "Daylight will come soon, but when it does, what will you poor souls do?"

Glancing over at a microphone, Asura gave a wicked smile. "Soon I'll be announcing the death of our little witch. Let's see what kind of drama that stirs…"

"Whoa…" Gopher's mouth nearly drops as he sees snow up ahead. Noah and his group had made it past the forest and what lay ahead of them surprised even Noah. "Whoa indeed…This is….well…just whoa…" Giriko whistles and claps his hands together at the sight. "Damn, this is fucking legit, huh boss?"

The only one who seemed to have a lack of interest was the Executioner, Justin Law. He stayed a few paces behind the rest of the group, a small smile on his face. The priest had finally changed out of his clothes and at the right time too. Light seemed to be approaching as the darkness began to fade.

On the beach, Kid and the others were staring at the sky as light soon filled the area, finally allowing them to see clearly. Soul crosses his arms. "Huh. Neat trick, Asura. Neat trick."

Maka bites her lip and looks towards the group. "What now?"

"We find the others and think of a way out of here." With that, the group ascends into the forest.

Asura grins, licking his lips as he prepared to speak into the microphone. The time would come for him to announce the first murder of the battle royale. His finger goes to the red button that would amplify his voice over the island. He could barely contain himself. He really wanted to see the look on their faces when he announced it.

As his finger finally clicked the red button, the Kishin cleared his throat and opened his mouth. "Hey there fellow contestants. Time for an update. So guess what? Our little mouse friend, Mizune is dead. She's out. Eliminated. That's all for now. Bye then. Happy hunting."

Turning away from the microphone, Asura chuckles and goes over to a blackboard. On the board was a single picture of each participant. Sid's picture had already been crossed out with a red X on it. Asura takes the red marker by the blackboard and quickly draws the X on Mizune's picture. "That's two dead. Twenty one more to go."

END OF CHAPTER 3  
DEATH COUNT: 2  
R.I.P. Mizune


	4. Chapter 4

The words were still ringing in Maka's ear. _Mizune is dead. She's out. Eliminated. _It's not that she really thought of the witch as a good person or anything but the fact that she was killed…murdered…that's what really shook Maka. By the looks of it, everyone else was thinking the same thing. Soul looks down at his feet and mutters. "No way. Someone is actually killing."

Kid was clenching his fists, glaring at the sky. "Sick bastard. Treating this like a game."

In the snowy area of the island, Noah gives a whistle of amusement. "You hear that boys? Seems as though someone has struck first blood." Giriko nods and grins widely. "Hell yeah. Looks like you were right boss. These idiots are going to kill themselves while we relax." Gopher smiles brightly and turns to look at Justin. "Isn't this great, Justin-kun! Noah-sama's plan is working so far!"

Justin hadn't been paying attention to Gopher or his group. He was too busy listening to the words that Asura just spoke. _It seems that Asura plans to cause trouble by announcing this. That could be a problem. I had hoped no one would announce or find out until later. _

"Justin-kun?"

The blonde priest blinks and turns to look at Gopher who gives him a puzzled look. "Are you feeling alright?" Justin smiles calmly and gives a nod. "Yes of course. I'm fine."

"S-She's really dead...Mizune is dead…" Eruka was hugging herself, on the verge of tears. Free snarls and starts forward. "I swear when I find the brat who killed-"

"Shut up you idiots." Medusa's voice makes both Eruka and Free stop to look at her. She didn't seem to look as though she cared for Mizune. But something was troubling her. "It couldn't have been the DWMA children…They were still on the beach. The only ones in the forest were us. And that Noah fellow…his group was already in the forest."

Free's eyes widen. "You think they killed Mizune?"

Medusa was shaking her head, still thinking. "There's also another possibility," She turns to look at the frog witch. "Eruka. You said that my child had gone into the forest before we did, correct?"

"Well yes but you don't think-"

"I do! Crona could have killed her. It's quite possible." Medusa gives a wicked grin. "Oh my. My little Crona is growing up." Free and Eruka exchange nervous glances. "Well to be fair…you don't really know if it was Crona yet, Lady Medusa." The snake witch scoffs and flips her hair back, looking at her fingernails. "I suppose we'll find out if we find Crona or Noah's group then."

Ox's eyes widen and he shivers. "Somebody has killed already...it's barely been a day…" Kilik looks down at Pot of Thunder and Pot of Fire, to see them sleeping soundly. "I'm glad they're asleep…I didn't want them to have to hear that announcement. It would only frighten them." Harvar crosses his arms and looks around in case anyone else was aware of their presence. "What exactly is our plan?"

Jackie ponders for a moment and then speaks up. "We could always go back to the beach. Kid and the others-"

"We don't know if they're still there. And besides, the killer probably knows that they're at the beach. The next attack might be on them" Harvar explains. Kim pouts and holds her arm. "You just expect us to let them die, Harvar! How cold can you be!"

The male weapon gives Kim a calm and serious look. "How do you expect me to not be like this? Especially in a situation like this." Ox stands beside Kim and looks at Harvar. "Look, I'm with Kim on this Harvar. We can't just let our friends be hurt by the killer. We have to do something."

Harvar says nothing for a moment but then he raises his head and says, "What if the killer is among Kid and his group?"

Jackie gasps and crosses her arms. "What! How could you even consider that! They would never-"

"Never what? Never kill? Do you really believe that they'd not kill if given the chance? If given the opportunity? Think about it. We don't know what's going on in their heads. They may as well slit our throats in our sleep!"

With that, Kilik rushes forward and punches Harvar across the face. "That's enough! You're scaring the twins!" Pot of Thunder and Pot of Fire had awoken to hear Harvar and were now crying and holding each other. Harvar holds his bruised cheek and stands back up. "You can't say I'm wrong. You don't know." Ox puts his hand on Harvar's chest and gives a look of worry. "Maybe…Maybe you should lay off a bit Harvar. Get some air…"

Without a word, the male weapon turns and walks away. Ox sighs and follows after him. "Harvar! Wait!"

Jackie and Kim exchange looks of uncertainty and then look at Kilik who hugs his weapons, trying to reassure them that nothing is wrong.

Black*Star stands up and walks over to the group. "Snap out of it guys! So someone died…big deal! It was a witch anyway! If we were in any other situation, we would have had to take her soul anyways!"

Seeing that his words were having no affect he quickly jumps in the middle of them all and raises his right hand. "MARK MY WORDS, THE MIGHTY BLACK*STAR WILL FIND A WAY TO GET US ALL OUT OF HERE!"

"Man dude you are loud." Soul gives a slight smile at his friend's words. Tsubaki giggles a bit ad tilts her head. "Of course you'll save us all…no one else could do it but you, Black*Star." Smiling proudly, the blue haired male laughs and runs around, raising everyone else's spirits.

Maka clenches her fist and looks up at the sky. "Kishin Asura. If you're watching this…We're going to escape. We will not be a part of your little game. You hear me! So just try and stop us!"

Watching from his quarters, Asura grins at hearing Maka through his camera. "Oh look what we got here. A group of rebels. Not going to participate? Heh. We'll see about that." Looking over at his levers and switches, he grins. "Which of my toys shall I try first?"

Still wandering the forest was none other than Crona Gorgon. Stumbling and barely awake, he groans and rubs his eyes. He hadn't gotten any sleep at all last night. He was so paranoid that someone would kill him that he had stayed up all night. Looking around, the pink haired boy sighed. As usual, no one was around. Ever since he had run off, Crona had been completely on his own. His stomach growls and he puts his hand over it. "F-Food…"

He hadn't had anything to eat all day and as he wandered, he couldn't seem to find any source of food anywhere. Was the Kishin trying to starve them out? No that couldn't be it. It would take less than 30 days for them to die of starvation. There had to be food somewhere.

That's when Crona notices a squirrel. His eyes wide and his stomach growling with hunger, he lunges for it, quickly piercing it with Ragnarok before it could get away. Huffing slightly, Crona looks at the dead squirrel. "S-Sorry…but I'm hungry…"

"So are we, Crona."

Looking up quickly, his eyes widen and he begins to shake as he comes face to face with Medusa. "M-Mother…"

Standing beside his mother were the werewolf, Free and the frog witch, Eruka. Grinning widely, Medusa crosses her arms. "Hello, my son."

END OF CHAPTER 4  
DEATH COUNT: 2


	5. Chapter 5

Crona gulps and starts to back away from the squirrel at the sight of his mother. Medusa smirks and steps forward. "What's wrong Crona? Didn't you miss me?"

Not realizing where he was going, Crona falls to the ground with a yelp as his foot hits a large rock. Medusa lets out a laugh as she rubs her chin. "Are you afraid of me, child? Afraid of your own mother?"

Crona hears Eruka gasp and she suddenly points to him with a shaky hand. "Lady Medusa! L-Look…his shoes!" As Crona looks to his shoes his eyes widen. They still had Mizune's blood on them. A small smile grew on Medusa's face as she saw. "Ah. So you did kill Mizune then, Crona?"

The pink haired boy quickly shakes his head. "N-No mother…! I…I only saw the body!" Free growls and steps forward. "Bullshit! You killed her! I'll rip you in half!" Cowering in fear, Crona looks around, searching for a way to escape. Before Free can do anything, Medusa puts her hand up. "Enough. No one is killing my child." Free is taken aback and frowns angrily. "What do you mean? He killed Mizune! You can't just let him off like that! Besides, you're the one who said-"

"Enough!" Medusa snaps. With that, Free goes quiet. Walking over to her son, Medusa offers her hand. "Come with me, Crona. Don't you want to live?"

Confused and unsure of what to do, Crona continues to back away. The snake witch rolls her eyes. "Oh please. If I wanted you dead, I would have had Free and Eruka kill you by now. But they haven't. Because of me, Crona. I don't want to kill you." Still finding it difficult to believe, Crona quickly cries out, "Ragnarok!"

In a matter of seconds, the black blood from within forms a sword and places it in Crona's hand. Taken by surprise, Medusa is nearly cut in half. She would have been sliced open if Free hadn't moved her out of the way. Taking the blow for Medusa, Free is hit in his shoulder and he winces in pain.

Crona quickly scrambles to his feet and turns to run. Eruka rushes over to Free and stares at his wound. "A-Are you okay, Free!?"

"What are you doing, you idiots! You're letting Crona escape!" Medusa hisses as she angrily glares at the pair. "B-But Free is injured…" Eruka starts nervously but is stopped by Free. "Just go…I'll be fine. I'm immortal, remember?"

Nodding slowly, Eruka turns and chases after Crona.

Still running and gasping for breath, Crona turns to his right and keeps on going in fear of being caught. He could hear Eruka's footsteps closely behind and he tries to run faster but finds himself almost out of breath.

"Crona…?"

The pink haired boy feels his eyes widen as he sees two familiar faces. It was Ox and Harvar. For a moment, Crona stops running and stands in front of them, trying to find the words to say. Hearing the footsteps behind him however soon makes him push past the pair.

"Crona wait!" Harvar grabs Crona's arms and the pink haired male squeals, turning and swinging his sword blindly. Suddenly opening his eyes, Crona feels his heart stop. Harvar's hand soon released him as a gash soon clearly shown near his chest area. Coughing up blood, Harvar falls off his feet and to the floor. "NO!" Ox cries out and quickly kneels beside Harvar, trying to pick him up.

On the verge of tears, Crona runs away and bites his lip. "I-I'm sorry…! I…I didn't mean to…!"

Eruka soon stops and hides behind a tree after witnessing Crona slash Harvar. Ox's cries brought Kim, Jackie, and Kilik to come running alone with the twins at his side. Kim screams and covers her mouth upon seeing Harvar's bloodied body. Pot of Thunder and Pot of Fire cry upon seeing him and hide behind Kilik's legs.

Ox feels his arms shake as he held onto Harvar. "D-Don't you dare die! We can still help you out!"

Harvar shakes his head slowly as a trickle of blood slowly slid down his lip. "Don't…bother…"

Jackie felt her body shiver and she looked away, feeling nauseous. Ox soon found tears sliding down his cheek. _Am…Am I really going to lose my partner? My friend…? _Staring blankly at Ox, Harvar let a small smile appear on his face. "Are you…crying…over…me…?"

"Harvar…" Kilik couldn't help but just stare in surprise. He never would have expected Harvar to be attacked. Taking Ox by the hand and gently squeezing it, Harvar grins. "You…protect…Kim…she's your…beloved…right?" Smiling slightly, Ox nods, the tears still flowing. Blushing lightly, Kim breaks down and cries. Suddenly, Harvar's hand loses its grip and it goes limp. Looking at Harvar, Ox shakes him. "Harvar…?"

When he receives no reply, he realizes that his face was now with but a blank stare. "Harvar! Harvar! No…no…" Shaking him more, Ox nearly yells out. All of a sudden, overcome by anger, Ox clenches his teeth and lowly growls. "Damn…Damn you, Crona…CRONA!" He quickly gets to his feet and continues to yell. "I'll get you for this Crona Gorgon! You hear me!? I'll get you for this!"

Back at Asura's quarters, the Kishin grins widely as he witnesses Harvar's death."Oh this'll be fun…" Glancing at the camera, Asura chuckles as he sees Crona still running. "Just look at you…how pathetic…you should have killed them all…It would have thinned out the herd a bit." Getting up from where he was sitting, he whistles and walks over to the blackboard to mark an X on Harvar's picture. "That's three now."

Sighing heavily and glancing over at Liz, Kid hesitates. "You sure?"

Liz gives a nod while Patty agrees with a thumb up. Kid slowly nods and looks to the rest of the group. "Alright guys…we're moving. No more beach. We need food. And shelter." Soul nods with his arms crossed. They were all hungry. No one was going to argue with that. Even Black*Star didn't seem to be as energetic as usual without food. Heading into the forest, the group travels in search of food.

Nervously glancing towards the sky, Tsubaki tugged on Black*Star's arm. "The sky…its getting dark again…"

The group looks at each other and they all decide to rest for the night. Hugging her knees, Patty groans. "I'm soooo hungry! When do we get food!" When she receives no reply, Patty looks to Liz. "Big sis? When are we getting food?" Sighing softly, Liz shrugs and gives her sister a hopeless look. "I don't know."

Staring up at the sky, Noah sneers and crosses his arms. "Pretty soon the dark is going to make this snow paradise a freezing disaster…" Holding onto the book of Eibon tightly, Gopher approaches Noah. "Isn't there any sort of spell or something that could keep us warm, Noah-sama?" The dark skinned male shakes his head. "Afraid not. We'll have to manage." Giriko scoffs and spits on the floor, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Well hold up…I'm going to go take a piss…" As he walks off, he ponders on about earlier. _That mouse witch is dead. But who the hell killed the bitch? Was it really those DWMA brats? Or did that leader witch betray the mouse chick and kill her? Ugh, all this crap is just so stupid. _

"What are you thinking?"

The voice was so sudden that Giriko jumped a bit. "Fucking…! Don't do that, Justin! You're such an asshole!" Turning around and zipping up his pants, Giriko glares at the male priest. Justin offers a kind smile and bows apologetically. "My apologies, Giriko. I didn't mean to startle you. I just couldn't help but see that you looked to be thinking on something." The brown haired male crosses his arms and looks to the sky. "Yeah I was thinking of something. What of it?"

Justin shrugged. "Oh nothing at all. I was just wondering what you were thinking." Giriko eyes the blonde priest with a slight suspicion. But as he saw no hostility in Justin's calm, blue eyes, he decides to tell him. "The mouse witch or whatever. Mizune or something like that. I'm just thinking about who it was that killed her."

The young priest felt his stomach tighten but he contained himself enough to not let it show. "I see." Giriko goes on, "Who do you think killed her? I mean, it's hard to believe those DWMA brats would have anything to do with it. You'd think they were dead set on wanting to escape. And I mean the only other option is her own group. Why would they just kill her like that? I mean I'd understand if it happened later on but…isn't it a bit early for that, you know?"

Justin's eyes narrowed but he kept on smiling. _That's because it was me you fool. I killed her. But I won't tell you. I won't tell anyone. If I did, you wouldn't trust me. You wouldn't sleep at night. I have to gain your pathetic trust and kill you later. _"Ah I see what you mean, Giriko. Who knows…perhaps we'll never know until the end."

Giriko gives a slow nod and shrugs. "Yeah well whatever. Let's go meet up with Noah and-"

The sudden sound of a booming voice fills the entire island. _"Hello? Can you hear me? Ha, of course you can. Well just to tell you that someone else has been killed. Shocking I know! It wounds me deeply to say that our weapon, Harvar D. Éclair. Now anyways! With that aside, I have some good news! As soon as morning comes a large box shall land in the center of the island. First come, first served sort of thing. I mean, I know you're all incredibly hungry. Heh. Well happy hunting!" _

With that, all of the groups of the island knew exactly where they were going tomorrow. To the center of the island.

Asura laughs wildly as he examines all the cameras in the island. "Man this'll be fun. My best idea yet!"

END OF CHAPTER 5  
DEATH COUNT: 3  
R.I.P. Harvar D. Éclair


	6. Chapter 6

"So he's really dead, huh…?" Soul says on the quiet walk in the morning. He didn't mean to pry or ruin the morning by speaking of death but they had been walking for what seemed to be hours. "Yeah. Harvar is dead" Kid replies curtly. He really didn't want to talk about the dead anymore. Not after Sid. It was simply too much to even mention the dead. "Let's just focus on getting to the food…okay guys?" Maka says. A nod of agreement is given from each group member. It seemed that no one wanted to talk after hearing about another death.

Cowering under a tree and hugging his knees was Crona. He had been weeping all night. His eyes were still red. He couldn't stop thinking about the day before. About what he did to Harvar. He had killed him. _I-I didn't mean to…it was an accident…I was afraid…._

"Hey don't start your damn crying, idiot!" Ragnarok emerges and punches Crona on the side of his head. "Quit your damn crying! So what if you killed him? You're going to have to kill more people to survive, right?"

The pink haired male shakes his head quickly. "No…no…I don't want to k-kill…"

Ragnarok flicks Crona on the back of the head and scoffs. "Yeah right! You nearly killed Lady Medusa! Your own mother! If it hadn't been for that stupid wolf man, you would have killed her right there!" Crona shakes his head and covers his ears. "N-No…stop it…" Ragnarok mutters and retracts back inside of the frightened child. The pink haired boy looks up at the sky and mumbles to himself. "I want to go home…"

"Ha! First ones here!" Giriko grins widely as the large crate that Asura mentioned lay before them. Gopher rushes the crate and looks inside, gasping. "There are all sorts of food in here! We could last about a week with all this food!"

Noah crosses his arms and gives a pleased smile. "Heh. Wonderful," Looking around quickly, he looks back at his group. "Okay now hurry and take the food. We don't know when anyone else will get here." Quickly scooping up handfuls of food, Gopher shoves a loaf of bread in his mouth, chewing on it. Giriko glowers at him as he takes some food as well. "Hey! You can't start eating yet, you ass! That's greedy!"

"We have company" Justin says, pointing behind them. Noah and the rest of the group turn to see three figures approaching them. Noah sighs and pulls his hat on tight. "Great. I'll go have a chat with them. You guys keep getting the food." As he approaches the figures, he sees that they are Medusa along with Eruka and Free.

Noah offers a generous smile and claps his hands together. "What can I do for-"

Ignoring him, Medusa points her finger towards him. "Vector arrow." Eyes wide, Noah quickly leaps to his right to avoid the arrow shooting straight for him. "Oh fuck me…guys! Run!"

Hearing Noah, Giriko and Gopher look at each other and then start running away. Justin as well runs but with no food in his hands for some reason. Hissing in anger, Medusa glares at the fleeing trio. "Kill them and take their food!"

Obeying, Free and Eruka rush forward, chasing after Noah's group. Taking Medusa by surprise, Noah grabs her from behind and smirks. "Sorry hun. Nothing personal." Before he can do anything however, an arrow appears on the floor and Medusa quickly yells the command, "vector plate!" Falling backwards, Noah lands on his back and groans as he attempts to sit up. "You're one annoying witch."

Glaring at Noah, Medusa creates a vector sword in her hand and starts walking towards him. Noah grins at her as she approaches him. "Look, I'll try to make this quick-" His eyes grow wide as he realizes something is wrong. As he reached to his belt line, he saw that the book of Eibon wasn't there. "What! Where is it…!" Suddenly remembering, he looks towards Justin in the distance who is holding the book of Eibon, a smirk on his face.

Noah feels himself grow tense at that instant. _When the hell did Justin take the book of Eibon! I never gave it to him! So how did-…oh…that son of a bitch…_

Noah suddenly glares at Justin in the distance, finally realizing what had happened. Medusa laughs as she stands in front of Noah. "What's the matter? Been betrayed by your own group? It hurts doesn't it?"

Staring up at Medusa, Noah frowns angrily. "Oh just shut up and do it already." Medusa gives him a wicked grin as she raises her sword. "With pleasure."

"Your soul is mine, witch!"

Hearing the unexpected voice makes Medusa turn to her right. She scoffs as she sees Kilik charging towards her with his Fire and Thunder gauntlets raised. Quickly seeing the distraction, Noah rolls to his right and scrambles to his feet, winking at Medusa. "See ya later, hun. I don't plan on dying today."

Before she can focus on Noah, Medusa is forced to block a punch thrown at her by Kilik. She staggers back and hisses, her sword clenched tightly. Ox and Kim soon meet up with Kilik, facing Medusa with determined looks.

The snake witch glowers at them, surveying her options. _Damn it…I'm outnumbered. I shouldn't have sent both Eruka and Free after them…Damn it all! _

Yelling in anger, Medusa sends a vector arrow towards the trio and then turns to run. Avoiding the arrow, Kilik raises his fists. "You're not getting away, Medusa!" Ox puts his hand in front of Kilik and shakes his head. "Don't. Let her go. We're only here to get the food." Jackie reverts back to her human form and smirks, her hands on her hips. "I can't believe this all worked out."

Running to the crate, Kim reaches in and pulls out some bread. "There's still a day's worth of food here! Looks like we lucked out!" Smiling happily, they all gladly take the bread and enjoy the moment of finally having food in their hands.

Back in the forest, Maka and the others continue venturing on. Soul sighs and scratches his head. "We're not going to make it. They probably already have the food by now." Tsubaki blushes darkly as her stomach growls loudly. "S-Sorry! I…I just…I'm hungry…."

Kid frowns slightly at the floor, holding his stomach. _We can't keep on doing this…we're all going to die of starvation if we don't step it up…but playing this game is just what Asura wants…_

"What now?" Liz asks, glancing at the ground. Maka shrugs and lets out a devastating sigh. "We'll all die of starvation at this point…" Soul quickly taps Maka on the arm, making her look up. The white haired male points towards a tree where he sees a lone figure sitting. "Is that…?"

"Crona!" Maka's eyes widen and she rushes forward.

Hearing his name be called, Crona's head jolts up and before he can move, Maka was on him. A slight yelp escapes the male's lips as Maka hugs him tightly. "Crona…"

Nervously glancing up and looking into Maka's eyes, Crona blinks. "M-Maka…" Kid and the others quickly meet up with the pair and can't help but smile. Soul kneels down and grins. "Long time no see, huh Crona?" The shy child looks at Soul and nods slowly. "Y-Yeah…"

Maka lets out a relieved sigh and holds Crona's hand. "Are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?" Crona shakes his head slowly, looking down. Maka quickly cups Crona's cheeks and looks into his eyes. "Crona…why did you run away that day…?"

Looking down, Crona shrugs slightly. "I…I don't know…I was scared…" Maka nods slowly and kindly smiles at him. "Well you're safe now, okay? You won't be alone anymore!" A small blush crept up on Crona's face at her words and he looks away, nodding a bit. "O-Okay…"

Panting heavily from the long chase, Giriko and Gopher stop by a tree. "D-Did we lose them…?"

Looking around, Giriko gives a nod. "Yeah…seems like it." Gopher looks down and bites his lip. "Do you think Noah-sama is okay?" Giriko shrugs and starts to eat the food he had in his hands. "Beats me…but I guess we'll find out later if he died, right?"

"Giriko." Looking up, the brown haired male is approached by Justin. "Yeah, what do you want?"

"Oh just to talk…" Justin turns to look at Gopher. "Hey Gopher, why don't you go take all the food and start rationing it? So we can have it last." Gopher beams happily and nods, going over in the distance to do as he is told. Giriko rips a chunk of bread off and chews on it, eyeing Justin carefully. "So what's up?"

Justin casually walks around Giriko, his hands behind his back. "Oh just…thinking. You remember when you asked me about Mizune?" Giriko gives a nod as he continues to eat. "Well I've been doing some thinking too. The chance of her own group killing her off that soon was extremely low. Almost zero. But the chance of those children doing anything was even lower. Especially after witnessing their teacher die like that."

Giriko thinks for a moment and knits his brows. "So what exactly are you trying to say?"

Justin meets Giriko's eyes and gives him a demented smile. "I killed her." The eyes of the brown haired male go wide and he stares at Justin, shocked. "You…killed her? Why?" Justin lets out a low chuckle and grins. "Merely to stage the first death. To make the others paranoid and scared. To make sure they'd crack. And it seems to be working so far. That's why I did it so early." Giriko tenses up, looking at Justin cautiously. "Why are you telling me all this?"

Justin lets out a slight chuckle. As soon a Giriko blinks, the priest was directly in front of him. Before he can react, Justin's blades cut open his stomach. Giriko's eyes widen as he holds onto Justin, his teeth clenched. "You…you son of a…" His body soon drips blood and his grip on Justin grows weaker. The priest takes a step back and Giriko falls face first into the ground. "How pitiful" Justin says as he retracts his blades and walks back to Gopher.

"Justin-kun? Where's Giriko?"

"Giriko is dead! We have to run! The one's that were chasing us are here! We must go!" Justin cries out quickly. Without thinking, Gopher's eyes go wide and he obeys Justin, running alongside him. The blonde priest smiles quietly. _My plan is working perfectly._

END OF CHAPTER 6  
DEATH COUNT: 4  
R.I.P. Giriko


	7. Chapter 7

"That son of a bitch."

Noah slowly walks towards Giriko's body, seeing the bloody puddle around him. Glaring and looking in the direction Justin had run, Noah clenches his fists. _So that's two people Justin's killed so far…Gopher might be next. _Noah had been watching nearby as Justin and Giriko were having a conversation. He was shocked to see Giriko killed by Justin and then the aftermath that followed.

Noah looks all around him carefully. "Without the book of Eibon I'm just as good as dead…"

Thinking hard, the sorcerer finally develops an idea. _Justin probably thinks I'm dead. He left me back there in hopes that Medusa would kill me. That devious bastard! He had planned to kill us all and make it look like accidents! Ugh…I have to hurry. I have to find Justin and kill him before Asura announces Giriko's death. He'll know I'm alive by then. _

Laughing madly, Asura crosses his arms, watching the cameras in his private quarters. "Oh man…I was kind of hoping a lot more people would have died in the confrontation of the food crate. Oh well there's always next time. And hey there was at least one death. Score." Standing up, the Kishin walks over to his blackboard to X out Giriko's picture.

"So this is your little game you've come up with."

The voice was from behind Asura and as he turns around, he grins. "It's about time I showed you my little scheme, don't you think…Arachne?"

The spider witch wryly smiles as she sits down on a couch. "An awful lot of cameras you have." The Kishin chuckles as he nods. "Indeed. I have Mosquito to thank for that." Arachne's attention soon falls upon the blackboard with the pictures of the contestants. "And…what is this?" Asura takes a step towards the board with his arms crossed. "This is a list of all the poor souls I kidnapped. They're all a part of my game." Arachne raises a brow and tilts her head. "What are the X marks on those pictures?"

Asura grins widely and licks his lips. "Oh that…it simply means they're dead." The spider witch lets out a soft gasp and puts her hand over her chest. "Dead? Oh my…what sort of game have you thrown these souls into?" The Kishin snickers and smiles ecstatically. "Just a battle to the death. A battle royale to be exact! They'll all fight until only one remains." A cool smile appears on Arachne's face as she fans herself. "You've really put a lot of effort into this game of yours, haven't you?"

The Kishin lowly chuckles and gives a nod, glancing at the blackboard. "Tell me Madame Arachne, would you care for a little wager?" The witch tilts her head and her eyes sparkle with curiosity. "What sort of wager?" Asura lightly rubs his chin and flashes her a smile. "Lets place our bets…who do you think will win my little game?"

Arachne quietly laughs and stares upon the blackboard. "Hmm…well lets see…" Her eyes slightly widen upon seeing the picture of Medusa. "Oh! You've brought my poor sister into this it seems!" Asura nods and tilts his head. "Yes I have. Is that a problem?" She shakes her head and smiles calmly. "No not at all. I almost feel sorry for her. She'll be dead in a few days. Just wait and see." Asura grins and gazes at the board. "So who do you think will win then, if not your sister? I have my bets placed on either the demon swordsman child, Crona or the death scythe, Justin Law." Arachne thinks for a moment before placing her hand on Maka's picture. "This girl…Maka Albarn. I'll place my bet on her."

Confused and somewhat displeased, Asura tilts his head. "Why her of all people?" Arachne smiles and turns to face him. "She has this look in her eyes. A fiery look. A determined look. People like that are hard to kill."

Sitting on the center of the island, Kilik keeps watch while the rest of his group sleeps. At hearing a group of footsteps approaching, he lightly shoves Ox and Kim. "Guys…I hear people coming…" Waking from their sleep, Kim and Ox look at each other nervously. Kilik narrows his eyes and then chuckles, a smile growing on his face. "You're not going to believe this…its Kid and the others!"

At hearing Kilik's words, Jackie grins at Kim and the twins run in circles, happily giggling. Kilik walks over to the group, pleased to see them. "It's been a while, dudes." Kid nods and smiles, glad to see that they were okay. Black*Star smirks and fist bumps Kilik, the two nodding at each other. Ox rushes over to Maka and Soul and shakes their hands quickly. "You guys have no idea how happy we are to see you! It's been so-" He suddenly stops as he notices Crona. Maka gives Ox a puzzled look and tilts her head. "What's the-"

Before she could say any more, Ox lunges at Crona. "You little shit! You killed Harvar!" Crona cries out as Ox tackles him to the ground. Raising his fist, Ox prepares to punch him. "You're dead!" Soul quickly grabs Ox and tries to get him off. "Dude! What's your problem!"

Maka quickly kneels beside Crona and helps him up. In a blind fury, she runs to Ox and slaps him. "What's wrong with you! Why would you just attack Crona like that!" Not listening to her and struggling in Soul's grasp, Ox keeps his gaze on Crona. "Let me go! Let me go! I'm going to tear him limb from limb! Don't you get it!? Crona killed Harvar!"

At hearing this, Maka's eyes widen and she turns to face Crona. The pink haired boy looks down, on the verge of tears. "Crona…is…is this true?" Biting down hard on his lip, Crona gives a slight nod. Soul's jaw drops open and he releases Ox. Shaking and holding his arm, Crona looks up with tears rolling down his cheeks. "I…I didn't mean to! I-I was just scared! M-Mother was chasing me! I…I didn't want to die…!"

Clenching his teeth, Ox steps forward and grabs Crona by his collar and glares at him. "Just…shut up! It doesn't matter! We're all scared! You don't see us killing anyone! Harvar didn't deserve that! He didn't do anything wrong...if anything…it should have been you! You should have died!"

"That's enough!" Pulling him off, Kim looks at Ox and shakes her head. "J-Just stop it…"

Turning away, Ox walks off with his head down. "I need some air…" Kim sighs and walks after him. "I'll go bring him back." For a moment no one says anything. Then Patty looks at everyone and then rubs her stomach. "I'm hungry. You guys have any food?"

Jackie nods and points to the crate. "Yeah. We have a bit left over. Not much left though. We were planning on saving it for tonight but it seems you guys need it more than we do."

Back in the forest, Free and Eruka sit by a nearby tree. Free rubs the back of his neck and sighs. "This is pointless. Even after all that we didn't get any food." Eruka looks down, with her hat in her hands. Free looks up at her and studies her face. "You've been awfully quiet." The frog witch looks up slowly and blinks, as if barely realizing he was there. "Hmm? Oh…yeah. Sorry…I'm just thinking."

The male werewolf crosses his arms and raises his brow. "Thinking about what?" Eruka shrugs and lets out a sigh. "Home."

Free looks down and nods slowly. "I want to go home too. But it seems that isn't an option until everyone else is dead…" She looks up at the male and gently bites her lip. "Hey Free…"

"Yeah?"

Eruka plays with her hat nervously. "Lets say we make it that far…Lets say you and I make it to the end. Asura said only one could win, right? Would you…would you kill me?" Free's eyes widen and he looks away, biting down on his tongue. "I…I um…"

"Oh crap."

Free and Eruka look up to see Noah directly in front of them. The sorcerer clears his throat and nervously smiles. "Hey how's it going? Heh…"

"Ox! Ox wait!" Kim runs to the male who finally stops walking. He sighs and turns around. "What is it, Kim?" The pink haired girl looks down and knits her brows. "Those things you said back there…about wanting to kill Crona…you didn't mean it, did you?"

Ox frowns and turns away. "Of course I meant it. I'm going to avenge Harvar." Kim puts her hand on his shoulder and shakes her head quickly. "Ox! D-Don't even think about it! That's…that's just stupid! I know Harvar was your friend but if you play the game you'd be-"

"I'd be what? Doing what the Kishin wants?"

Kim bites her lip and almost breaks into tears. _Why was he being so difficult? _

"Ox…you…you shouldn't do anything reckless!" Kim says, her head turning to the side. Ox gives her a strange look, curiously glancing at her. "Why? Why do you care?"

"Because I care about you Ox! You're my friend! You can't die!" Kim bursts into tears and holds onto his shoulders, burying her head into his chest. He's taken by surprise and holds her in his arms, unsure of what to do. "K-Kim…"

Gazing into her eyes, he could see that she was hurting. He holds her closely and gives her a serious look. "Kim…I…"

The look that he gives her sends butterflies down her stomach. Suddenly her arms went around Ox's neck and she gently brushes her lips against his. Ox blushes a dark shade of red as he feels Kim's soft lips on his. She soon leans back and her cheeks flush red as she looks away. "L-Lets get back to the others…"

Smiling and taking Kim by the hand, Ox nods. "Of course, my beloved."

END OF CHAPTER 7  
DEATH COUNT: 4


	8. Chapter 8

"Give us one good reason not to kill you?"

Free and Eruka cower over Noah who kneels down and has his hands up. "One reason? So um…maybe because I know a way out…and you'd both prefer to escape rather than kill, right?"

The pair look at each other and then back at Noah. Eruka crosses her arms and cautiously stares at him. "What's your plan?"

The male sorcerer hesitates. "I'm afraid I can't exactly tell you. Not yet at least." Free growls and steps forward. "Then you're no use to us!" Standing up and backing away, Noah puts his hands up. "Hey! C'mon now lets not do something we may regret…"

Free glares at him and grabs Noah by the collar of his shirt. Struggling to free himself from the grip, Noah flails around. "Lemme go! Listen to me, damn it! I can help you!" Eruka frowns a bit as she looks at the defenseless male. "Help us how?"

"Put me down and I can tell you!"

Sighing, Free drops Noah and crosses his arms, grunting. "This better be good, punk." Adjusting his coat and wiping his pants, Noah gets to his feet. "What if I told you who killed Mizune?"

Eruka's eyes widen and she looks at Free. He shakes his head and growls. "We already know! It was Crona!" Noah chuckles and looks away. "Heh…sorry for laughing but that isn't even close. It wasn't Crona. But I know who it is. I know who killed her. I heard him say it himself. Right before he killed Giriko." Free knits his brows and gives him a confused look. "Before he killed Giriko? You mean this guy just killed someone again?"

Noah nods. "Yeah. He did. And let me tell you who it is. It's Justin Law."

Glaring at the sky as it begins to darken; Medusa touches her bruised hand and winces. "That stupid kid…He hit my hand…" She lets out a sigh and rests her head on a tree, closing her eyes. _Damn it. Where the hell are Free and Eruka? I need those two. I'll die like this. But maybe they already died. _

Hearing the sound of footsteps, the snake witch quickly gets to her feet and prepares to attack with her vector arrow. She hisses at the sight of the two individuals. Justin Law and Gopher. Members of Noah's group. The death scythe smiles and tilts his head. "It seems we've caught ourselves a witch. Quite an annoying one too." Launching her vector arrow directly at him, Justin smirks as he easily parries it with his blades. "Oh come on now, you really shouldn't resist like that. Be a good witch and die. Your use has run out anyway."

Confused, Medusa frowns at the young blonde. "What are you on about?"

Justin smiles calmly. "Oh nothing. It's just that last I saw, you were about to kill Noah." Gopher gasps as he recalls the incident and then he suddenly glares at Medusa. "You killed Noah-sama!" The witch scoffs and glowers at them. "Oh trust me, I wish I could have killed the bloke. Always so smug! But luckily for you fools, he's still alive."

Gopher blinks for a moment and then tilts his head. "Noah-sama…is…alive?" The words of Medusa send a joy through Gopher and he quietly giggles, smiling happily. He turns to Justin and beams at him. "Isn't this great, Justin-kun! Noah-sama is alive!"

_No. This isn't good at all. This is bad. If he's alive…_Internally, Justin was boiling with rage. But he couldn't let Gopher know so he merely smiles instead and nods. "Yes that's great. We'll meet up with him shortly after killing this witch." Medusa quickly shoots another vector arrow at them and turns to run. Blocking the arrow, Justin runs after her. "You won't get away."

Back on the center of the island, Kid and the others all sit in a circle and discuss the plan for escape. "Okay so…Asura says that no one can get out of here…but if he can disappear and appear just out of thin air then surely there's a trick involved."

Soul sighs and shrugs. "Beats me…how long will it take us to find this trick?" Black*Star stands up proudly and grins. "No need to fear! I'll find us a way out! I'll crush anything that gets in my way! We'll bust our way out!"

Tsubaki offers a kind smile and tilts her head. "Maybe that wouldn't be the best approach…"

Maka quickly stands up and frowns. "Ugh, this is hopeless!" She turns away and storms off, leaving the group dazed and quiet. After a moment, Soul stands up. "I'll go get her." Walking over to where Maka was standing, Soul steps beside her. "You alright?"

She shakes her head and looks down. Soul sighs and looks at her. "Alright, what's the problem?"

Maka turns to face Soul, her eyes wet and dripping with tears. "I'm scared, Soul." His eyes slightly widen and he gently grasps her shoulders. "Maka…w-why are you crying?" She looks down at her feet and sniffs, wiping her tears. "It's stupid…"

"Just tell me. You know you can talk to me" Soul assures her. As she meets his gaze, she bites down on her lip. "How much longer can we do this? How much longer can we keep pretending that everything's okay? Sid's dead. Harvar's dead. Who else has to die…?" Soul looks away and knits his brows. "I…I don't know Maka. I really don't know."

Looking into Soul's eyes, Maka leans towards him slowly. "Soul…"

Soul's eyes go wide with shock and he backs away. "We can't." Maka feels her heart shatter at Soul's words and she furiously bites down on her lip, looking down. "Oh…"

He quickly grabs her shoulders, making her look at him. "No, I mean…we really can't. Look behind you!"

Confused, Maka turns around and suddenly gasps as she sees Medusa rushing towards them. But something was off about Medusa. She wasn't walking right. It was as if she was injured. And sure enough, as she got closer, Maka could see the wounds on her. Medusa was bleeding and had cuts on her arms and on her waist.

"W-What..." Maka starts but stops as she sees two figures appear behind Medusa. It was Justin Law followed by Gopher. Soul grabs Maka's arm and runs. "We have to tell the others. Fast. We can't get caught up in this."

Soon sinking to her knees, Medusa pants heavily. She could hear the footsteps behind her approaching. _How the hell is that damned death scythe so quick?_

Gazing up at the sky, she squints. It was only getting darker but she felt that beyond all of it, she could see the stars. _Am I going to die? _

The footsteps behind her finally stop. Justin smiles as he stands a foot behind Medusa. "Well it seems you've finally stopped running. That should make things fairly-"

Medusa quickly turns around, shooting a vector arrow at him. Barely able to avoid it, Justin groans as the arrow grazes the side of his face and a trickle of blood pours from his cheek. Getting to her feet and limping quickly, Medusa uses all of her strength to get away. _No. I won't die. Not like this. Not to pathetic scum like him. _

Holding his bleeding cheek, Justin glares. Gopher rushes to his side and stares in astonishment. "Justin-kun, are you okay?"

The death scythe nods and winces a bit. "I'm fine…now go finish her off." Gopher's eyes widen at the sudden command. "W-What?"

"Are you deaf or something? I said to go finish her off!" Justin snarls angrily as he glowers at Gopher. The young male is taken aback and hesitates as he sees Medusa start to further away. "I…I don't know…Noah-sama's plan had been to just watch them kill each other…I d-didn't think we'd have to…do anything…"

Grabbing Gopher's shirt, Justin yells at the top of his lungs, "I said: go finish her off already, you useless scum!"

Whimpering and his lip quivering, Gopher backs away, suddenly scared of Justin's sudden outburst. Still glaring at Gopher and filled with rage, Justin unsheathes his blades and steps towards the young male. "That's it! You've proved to be nothing but useless!"

"J-Justin-kun…w-what are you doing…?" Nearly about to cry and in fear for his life, Gopher continues to back away, confused about why Justin suddenly was so hostile.

"Don't even think about it, Justin."

The voice makes Gopher's heart leap with joy. It makes Justin however, turn around and glare, his anger only getting worse.

Noah smiles as he crosses his arms, Free and Eruka at his side. "Its been a while, huh guys?"

Finally getting to Kid and the others, Soul cries out, "Guys! We have to go! Big problem! Justin and Medusa! They're fighting!"

Panicking, the group quickly gets up and rushes in the opposite direction, trying to get as far away as possible. Maka looks back at the scene, wondering what was going on. _Was it really the right thing to do to just leave? Should we have stopped it? _

"Heh. This is gonna be good!" The Kishin grins as he looks into his camera, seeing the confrontation between Noah and Justin. "There better be at least two deaths or I want my money back! Oh wait…I didn't pay for this…cuz it's free! Heh. What a show this'll be." Grinning, he sits back and relaxes, watching intently.

END OF CHAPTER 8  
DEATH COUNT: 4


	9. Chapter 9

"You…You're still alive…" Justin growls at the sight of Noah, his anger rising.

"Heh. Yup. Did you miss me?" Noah chuckles as he smiles calmly. The sorcerer turns to look at Eruka and Free. "Medusa shouldn't have gotten far. You two should go and tend to her wounds." Nodding, the pair begin to walk, only to be cut off by Justin. "Just where do you think you're going? You don't really think I'm letting you go, do you?"

Noah frowns and stands in front of Eruka and Free. "Leave them be. It's me you're dealing with right now Justin. We have some things to discuss."

The blonde priest laughs and grins widely. "And what is it that we have to discuss?"

Noah gives Justin a cold stare. "About why you killed Mizune. And Giriko." At these words, Gopher's eyes widen and he looks at Justin with utter shock. The priest snickers and licks his lips. "What is there to discuss about that? If you know about Giriko, you must have been nearby when I did it."

The male sorcerer nods and looks towards Gopher. "Step away from Justin. Now. Don't trust a word he tells you, understand?" Backing away and doing as he's told, Gopher nervously shivers. Snarling angrily, Justin looks from Noah to Gopher, ignoring Free and Eruka who run past them.

"Where's the book of Eibon, Justin?" Noah demands. The death scythe laughs and tilts his head. "Why on earth would I tell you? So you could have a fighting chance against me? Don't think so." Noah looks to Gopher and gives him a look that seemed to say, "Get him." Hesitating, Gopher stands for a moment, unsure of what to do.

"Enough talk. I'll kill you where you stand, _Noah-sama"_ Justin grins as he lunges towards Noah, his blades out and ready. Leaning back and quickly moving out of the way, Noah avoids getting his throat slit. _Just great. He's attacking with killing intention. Not good._

Standing helplessly and still not sure of what to do, Gopher watches, biting on his lower lip. "Noah-sama…"

On the floor and barely conscious, Medusa crawls as she hears the sound of footsteps approaching. _Oh Death. It's the death scythe. He's come to finish me off…!_

But at hearing a voice call out to her, she realizes it wasn't Justin. "E-Eruka?" Medusa coughs up some blood and clenches her throat that seemed about ready to burst. Kneeling beside her, Eruka gasps loudly. "Lady Medusa…! What happened to you…?"

"Later…" Medusa mutters as her breathing grows weak and her eyelids grow heavy. Free quickly scoops her up in his arms and looks to Eruka. "What the hell are we supposed to do now!?" The frog witch shrugs and thinks quickly, then looks up hopefully with an idea. "That Noah guy! He has the book of Eibon, right? Maybe there's some spell or something that can heal Lady Medusa!"

Nodding, Free rushes back to where they last were, Eruka at his side.

"What do you think is going to happen?" Liz asks nervously. Kid shrugs slightly and stares at his feet. "I kind of don't want to find out. Besides, Asura's morning announcement would tell us the outcome…"

Kim clings to Ox's arm as she stares at the sky. "It's getting dark again…" Kilik looks back and nervously chews on his lip. "Is it safe to stop here?" Kid shakes his head as the group continues. "No, its still too soon to stop. At least a little more. We can't risk getting killed out here with the others actually playing the game nearby."

Crona gulps and holds his arm nervously. He wanted to talk to Maka but it seemed she was too occupied talking to Soul. Tsubaki glances over at Crona and notices something troubling the young lad. "Are you alright, Crona-kun?"

The shy male looks over at Tsubaki and blinks a bit before giving a slight nod. "Y-Yeah I'm fine…"

Smiling gently, Tsubaki lightly squeezes Crona's hand. "Well if anything is bothering you, I'm here to talk, okay?" Crona blinks quickly, lightly blushing. "O-Okay…"

Staring up at the sky, Maka frowns. _Is the Kishin watching us? Does he enjoy this? Watching us suffer like this? _

"Yo Maka? You're daydreaming again" Soul says as he lightly punches her shoulder. Maka looks over at Soul and weakly smiles. "Sorry about that. It's just hard not to ponder on things, especially at times like this." Soul nods a bit and looks forward. "Got that right…"

Noah quickly finds himself flat on his back as Justin approaches him, blades raised. Rolling to the side, Noah lucks out and just barely avoids getting cut again. "Gopher! Help me out!"

Walking forward, Gopher looks to his right to see where the book of Eibon was.

Justin growls as he lunges forward, his blade finally making contact with Noah, wounding him on his shoulder. Wincing in pain and backing up, Noah bites his tongue and pants heavily. _This isn't going well. If this keeps up, I'll end up getting killed._

"Noah-sama! Over here!"

Turning his head, Noah's eyes widen as he sees Gopher holding up the book of Eibon. Smiling widely, Noah gives him a nod. Noticing what Gopher was doing, Justin snarls and turns his attention off of Noah, charging towards the young boy.

Gopher's eyes widen as he sees Justin approach him. Noah runs forward and yells out, "Move Gopher! Run, damn it!" Before he could run however, Justin was on him. The death scythe quickly gets behind Gopher and brings his blade by the boy's neck. "Move and I slit his throat."

Noah stops and his eyes widen. "Justin…don't…"

The priest hisses harshly and grits his teeth, his blade pressed up right against Gopher's neck. "Don't test me, Noah." Stopping in his tracks, Noah puts his hands up. "Okay. Okay. Lets talk about this Justin."

"There's nothing to talk about" Justin barks loudly. Gopher squirms and cries out. "N-Noah-sama! H-Help me!" Biting his tongue hard, Noah starts to sweat and panic. _What do I do? What do I do?_

"What the hell do you want, Justin?" Noah asks nervously. Justin scoffs and gives Noah a displeasing look. "What I want is for you to suffer. So…"

Slowly slicing his blade along Gopher's neck, Justin smirks. Gopher's face goes blank with fear and he makes a sound between a cough and a choke. The blood along Gopher's neck was almost a perfect straight line. At least until the blood started splattering from it.

"GOPHER!" Running forward and holding his wounded arm, Noah rushes to the boy's side. Gopher was barely conscious and his eyes were on the verge of closing. "Noah…sama…"

The sorcerer didn't know why but he was crying. He was crying over Gopher. "I…I'm so sorry Gopher…I didn't mean for this to happen…"

Gopher didn't reply. His face was as stiff and lifeless as death.

Justin sneers and raises his blade, ready to strike. "Oh please. You're more pathetic than I thought, Noah." Before he can strike, he is hit in the back by Free who shoulders him with incredible force. Noah gives a shocked look, surprised to see Eruka and Free. The werewolf was holding Medusa in his arms and she seemed in terrible shape. Alive but in terrible shape.

Eruka quickly gasps as she notices Gopher. "Oh my Death! He's…!"

Free looks over to Justin to see him groaning and getting to his feet. "Now's not the time! We can mourn him later! We need to go now! That includes you, Noah!"

Hesitating, Noah looks from Gopher's lifeless body to Justin and then stands up, picking up the book of Eibon and running with Medusa and her group. Shaking off the hit that he took, Justin turns to look at his fleeing prey and he spits at the floor, not bothering to chase after them. "Next time…but not this time…"

Looking up at the dark sky, Justin yells at the top of his lungs, "Well? How was that! Am I worthy yet, Kishin-sama! Have I pleased you!? Will you accept me as your faithful servant, my dearest Kishin God!"

Raising his brow, Asura lets out a low chuckle. "Rather disappointing. Only one person died. I was hoping for Noah to die there. But I suppose him being alive isn't such a bad thing. Justin still has madness boiling within him." He grins and stares intently at the camera with Justin on it. "Lets see what you can do for me, Justin Law."

END OF CHAPTER 9  
DEATH COUNT: 5  
R.I.P. Gopher


	10. Chapter 10

"Turn right. We need to head back into the forest." Free and Eruka give Noah a puzzled look. "Why would we go to the forest?"

"Because Justin expects us to be going straight. And it'd be easier to lose him if he found out we were in the forest. The trees would help" Noah explains. Nodding slowly, the group decides to turn right towards the forest. "Oh, wait a sec." Stopping, Free and Eruka look at the sorcerer.

Muttering under his breath, he opens the book of Eibon and points to Medusa. Suddenly, a tingling sensation goes through Medusa's body and the pain she was in suddenly goes away. The snake witch touches her arms to find that her wounds were gone. "How did you-"

"That's the book of Eibon for you." Smirking, Noah runs to the forest with the others closely behind.

Sipping a cup of wine, Arachne smiles warmly as she looks into Asura's cameras. "So how have things been as of late?"

The Kishin grins, looking up at his blackboard. "Not much really. Only five deaths so far. But not bad for the first week. Not bad at all." The spider witch tilts her head as she looks up at the blackboard. "About our little wager…how are things looking?"

Chuckling, the Kishin flashes Arachne a smile. "Oh things are great. So far Justin has picked up his third kill. I'm telling you he's an unstoppable weapon, that one!" Grinning from ear to ear, Asura walks over to Arachne. "You should just pay up now. Your bet on Maka Albarn isn't looking too hot right now." Ignoring his words, Arachne merely lets out a laugh. "She's still in this, isn't she? I see no reason to give up just now."

Frowning slightly, Asura scoffs. "You seriously still have hope for the girl?"

Arachne nods, smiling coldly at him. "Indeed. Sure she hasn't been your most active participant but to win a game, being aggressive isn't always the key." Seeing how Asura was confused, the spider witch continues. "Look at it this way…in chess, the players must have a strategy to win. Coming in blindly to just take out as many pieces as possible is reckless and hardly a strategy. Besides, as long as the king still stands, it's anyone's game."

Smirking, the Kishin shakes his head and turns to the cameras. "You have a strange yet unique way of seeing this game, don't you Arachne?"

"Where exactly are we?" Soul asks, looking around in the pitch black darkness. Kid shrugs his shoulders as he looks on ahead. "No clue. It's almost impossible to tell where we're going when we can't see. Maybe we should just rest here for now."

"About time!" Black*Star groans and plops himself on the floor, falling asleep instantly. Yawning, Patty sits and stretches herself. "Thank goodness! I'm soooo tired!"

Sighing, Kid sits down and crosses his arms, looking at the floor. "Another day in this never ending nightmare." Standing up, Kilik cowers over the group. "You guys should all get some rest. I can keep watch if you'd like." Soul looks up at the male. "What about you? Don't you need rest?"

Kilik shakes his head and folds his arms. "No, its fine I'm well rested. Besides we could always take shifts to make sure everyone gets enough sleep." Nodding in agreement, the group decides to let Kilik keep watch. Staying up with Kilik, Fire and Thunder climb onto his back and swing their legs around. Smiling a bit, Kilik picks the twins up and sets them on his lap. "Alright you two, cut it out. You need rest."

Pouting and refusing to listen, the twin Pots stand up and run around. Sighing, Kilik stands up and walks after them. "Hey, c'mon now. Seriously, you two need to sleep." After a few minutes, he manages to get the two to calm down and sits by them until they fall asleep.

"I-I need to p-pee…"

Looking up, Kilik sees Crona fidgeting with his feet. Smiling and giving him a nod, Kilik points up ahead. "Go do your business over there. Wouldn't wanna wake anybody. Heh." Turning red, Crona nods and walks forward until he gets a far enough distance.

Kilik glances up at the sky and knits his brows. _How many days have passed? Its hard to tell, really…Does Lord Death even know we're gone? _

His thoughts are interrupted after hearing the sound of sudden movement up ahead. As he looks up, he smiles. "Finished already, huh Cron-"

Something was wrong. Something was off. Narrowing his eyes, Kilik stands up and walks slowly over to the figure. "Crona?" When he receives no answer, he gets even closer. Suddenly he realizes that the figure wasn't Crona. The shape was different. His eyes widening, he quickly turns and prepares to yell to the others when a hand goes over his mouth.

"Now, now. Can't have you waking everyone." The voice belonged to none other than, Justin Law. The death scythe grins as he notices the fear in Kilik's face. Justin smirks faintly, his eyes filled with a craze of blood lust.

With the flick of his wrist, Justin quickly turns Kilik's head to the right, a snap being heard. After the sound is made, Kilik's body goes limp, his face blank and expressionless. Grinning, Justin carefully sets down the deceased male and turns around to look at Crona who he had knocked out. "Time to commence my plan."

"Medusa."

Hearing her name called, the witch looks up to see Noah. He walks beside her and then sits down next to her. Medusa looks at him cautiously, unsure of whether to trust him or not. "What do you want?"

The sorcerer shrugs and smiles kindly. "Nothing really. Just hoping we could have a little chat. Free and Eruka were asleep so you were my only option." Rolling her eyes, Medusa looks away and snickers. "Don't think that because of what you did, I trust you. Don't even for a second think I won't hesitate to kill you." Still smiling, Noah tilts his head. "I don't doubt that at all. I'm sure trust is something you don't have much of."

Glaring and jolting her head to look at him, Medusa snarls. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you don't trust many people. And my guess is that its because somewhere along the line, someone you trusted with your heart and soul betrayed you." Medusa's eyes slightly widen at his comment and she opens her mouth but no words come out. She crosses her arms and scoffs. "You're an idiot if you think that."

Suddenly Medusa sits up straight as she feels an arm press around her waist. Looking up, she saw the male scooting closer to her, his smile growing wider. Looking away and breaking free of his grasp, Medusa hisses. "Just what the hell do you think you're doing?"

Ignoring her words, Noah presses on. "You're really beautiful, you know that?"

Blushing a deep shade of red, the snake witch turns her head and glares, "What did you-"

A small gasp escapes the witch's mouth as Noah's lips gently touched against hers. Quickly leaning away from the male's lips, Medusa shoves Noah away. "The hell was that!?"

Wiping her mouth, Medusa glowers at him. "You're disgusting."

Grinning, Noah wrapped his arm around her waist and pushed her up against him, her chest gently coming into contact with his. "That first kiss was for calling me an idiot. This next one is for being so stubborn." Medusa feels her body tense up as the male leaned in for another kiss. This time for some reason however, the witch found it impossible to pull away. And it wasn't because of his grip on her. It was something else. Something she was feeling wouldn't allow her to move.

Her eyes fluttering shut, Medusa turns a dark red as Noah's lips come into contact with hers. Slowly turning her head away, Medusa bites her lip and avoids his eyes. "G-Gah…are you done…?"

Chuckling, the male sorcerer nods and pulls away. "Yeah I am. For now at least."

Glaring at the ground, the witch holds herself. "Shut up you fool…"

The sky soon begins to light up again, signaling the end of a dark and frightening night, and the start of a terrifying and deadly day.

"Crona's missing!?" Maka's jaw drops at the news. Her body shivers and Soul quickly holds her to help her relax. Kid quickly looks to Ox and says, "Get the twins. Quickly. Make sure they don't look this way." Nodding, Ox runs for the twins who had begun to wander over to the group. Everyone was now surrounding Kilik's body, scared and confused about last night's events.

Jackie nervously holds her arm and shakes her head. "What good will not telling the twins do? Asura will just announce his death anyways…"

"I-I don't understand! W-What happened?" Maka was on the verge of tears. It seemed that from everyone's point of view that Crona had killed Kilik and left. "We don't know yet Maka. But that's what we're going to find out. We have to find Crona first and then-"

Asura's booming voice cuts Kid off and makes everyone on the island jump. _"Have a good night's sleep kiddies? Heh. Guess not. Well you know the drill. So we have three deaths since the last announcement! Splendid! So in order of deaths there's Giriko, Gopher, and Kilik Rung. That's six dead, people! Keep it up champs. Happy hunting." _

With that, Asura's announcement ends and suddenly the twins look at each other. In a matter of seconds the two Pots break down in tears, finally realizing that Kilik was dead.

Looking down, Ox clenches his fists. _Crona…you son of a bitch…if I find out you killed Kilik…mark my words I will KILL you…_

Noticing that Ox was shaking, Kim gently squeezes his hand. "You okay?"

"Yeah…I'm fine." He stops shaking and takes a deep breath, looking up at the sky. _You want to play this game, Crona? Fine…so will I…_

END OF CHAPTER 10  
DEATH COUNT: 6  
R.I.P. Kilik Rung


	11. Chapter 11

"Try anything and I'll cut open your throat" Justin says as he walks behind Crona. The pink haired male says nothing and continues walking forward. Looking to the side, the priest smiles. "Everything is going well. My plan is working."

Crona shivers a bit and holds his arm. _W-What's he planning? W-Why does he need me?_

Justin frowns at seeing Crona shiver. "Quit that. It's annoying." Crona soon stops shivering and stares blankly at his feet, too afraid to try to escape. The death scythe smirks, his hands at his side, ready to turn into blades at any moment.

Back in the forest and heading towards the center of the island, Free and Eruka exchange nervous looks. Noah tilts his head and crosses his arms. "What? You don't trust me?"

Free scratches the back of his head. "Well…it's not that…it's just…well why the hell do we need to find Justin all of a sudden?"

The sorcerer glances at Free and then at the book of Eibon. "We need to stop him. The way things are going, he may kill the DWMA students. It's not that I care about them or anything but if this plays out, Asura will have what he wants. And from the looks of it, Justin is the only active killer I know of."

"What about the person who killed that Harvar kid? From what you told us he didn't kill him" Eruka replies with a nervous glance at the sorcerer. Nodding slowly, Noah rubs his chin. "That's true. But if that's the case then the killer is among the students. I'm surprised that they'd participate in the game but I guess they'd have cracked eventually."

Looking over to Medusa, Noah smiles. "You've been awfully quiet. How come?" The witch shakes her head and waves him off. "Don't worry about it." She frowns a bit as she thinks back to last night. _I would have died if HE didn't save me…Why the hell did HE save me…and not only that, the damned fool kissed ME! HE kissed ME! _

The werewolf grunts and crosses his arms. "Why wait till now to do this? We could have just taken Justin back there when we had the chance." Noah frowns slightly at the ground. _No, you're wrong. It wouldn't have been that easy…I was still dwelling on Gopher's death…and Medusa was badly wounded then, she wouldn't have been able to do anything…_

Tapping his arm, Medusa tilts her head and raises her brow. "Hey, quit your daydreaming would you?"

Blinking, the male sorcerer nods and offers a smile. "Yeah, sorry about that. But we should get going."

"What exactly are we going to do once we find Crona?" Liz asks nervously. "Yeah what are we gonna do with him!" Patty demands, clinging to her sister's shoulder. Kid sighs and looks away. "I don't know yet, okay?"

Ox clenches his fist and stares at the floor angrily. Kim gently puts her arms around Ox as she hugs him from behind. "Calm down Ox…" Kim's words send a reassurance through him and he relaxes into her arms. Jackie walks behind the couple, holding the hands of the twin Pots who were still upset over Kilik's death. Sniffing, Thunder wipes her eyes and looks down sadly.

Soul walks beside Maka, looking over at her nervously. She didn't seem to be taking this very well. Maka bit down on her lip as she held herself tightly. _Crona wouldn't kill Kilik…it just doesn't make any sense…why would he…_

"Maka." Looking up, she looks to see Soul staring at her with worried eyes. "What's wrong, Maka?"

Shaking her head and looking at the ground, Maka begins to shake. "I just don't understand…Why would Crona do that…It just doesn't add up…"

"Perhaps it wasn't Crona. Maybe someone is framing him."

Hearing this, both Soul and Maka turn to look at Tsubaki who had a determined look on her face. "I don't think Crona killed Kilik. He didn't have a reason to…" Nodding in agreement, Maka raises her firsts. "Yeah! You're right, Tsubaki! That has to be it! Crona wouldn't do something like that!"

Soul scratches his head and sighs. "Lets not jump to any conclusions…we don't exactly know anything yet." Maka frowns and lightly punches Soul's arm. "But I do know! Crona wouldn't do that! I know him better than that!" Soul looks away and puts his hands up. "Alright, alright! Whatever you say…"

Finally getting into a new area of land, this time being a desert, Crona stops and gulps. Justin frowns and steps forward, pushing Crona and forcing him forward. "I never said to stop. Keep going." Turning around nervously, Crona avoids Justin's eyes. "B-But it's the desert…if we go there without f-food we might die…"

Glaring at him, Justin shoves him into the sandy dirt. Crona squeals and falls back, crying out in pain as he hurts his elbow. The death scythe takes a step towards him and glowers. "I didn't ask for your opinion. Your only option is to do as I say or die."

Crawling away from him, Crona whimpers and struggles to his feet. Laughing, Justin kicks Crona's back, sending him tumbling back down. "You're pathetic! Just like everyone else here! None of you understand the way of this game! You'll all die by my hand!"

"Ragnarok!"

Caught off guard, the priest gasps in surprise as Crona swings his sword at him, barely missing his neck. Backing away a few paces, Justin unsheathes his blades and glares. "Oh you are so dead, kid." Standing up and holding Ragnarok who was in sword form, Crona frowns a bit. "I-I'm not afraid to hurt you…"

The blonde cackles with laughter and grins. "You're not afraid to hurt me!? Just who do you think I am, kid!" Charging forward, he swings his blades but is parried by Crona. Angered, Justin lunges forward and attacks more aggressively. Barely deflecting the attacks, Crona backs up and nearly trips.

"This is where you die!" Justin laughs and swings his blade, cutting into Crona's arm. Crying out in pain, Crona backs up and looks at his bleeding arm. Still in sword for, Ragnarok yells out, "Crona you idiot! Do something! We're going to die if this keeps us!"

Getting an idea, Crona runs his fingers along his bloody arm and slings his blood at Justin. The male priest furrows his brows and gives a confused look as a few dots of the black blood get on his clothes.

"Bloody needle!"

At yelling out the attack, the black blood pierces Justin and he hunches over, coughing up blood.

"C'mon finish him off Crona! Kill him!" Ragnarok cries out. Growing hesitant, Crona looks from Ragnarok to the bleeding Justin. Shaking his head, the pink haired boy runs off, trying to get as far away from Justin as possible.

Frowning slightly as he watches Justin get wounded, Asura leans back in his chair and scoffs. "Oh c'mon now. You could do better than that, Justin Law. Don't disappoint me." Running his fingers along his hair and staring at the camera screen with beady eyes, Asura's lips curl into a smile. "Ah…in the direction that Crona is headed it seems things could get good…"

Glancing back at his blackboard, he grins. There had originally been twenty four contestants in the beginning. Now it was down to eighteen. Slowly, the number of contestants was going down. Soon there would be a victor. "A few more weeks and everything will be perfect…my plan will have succeeded."

"Noah, don't!"

Pushing away from the male, Medusa turns her head and looks to the side. Originally Noah had his arms around her waist but was pushed off. Blinking in confusion, Noah rubs the back of his head. "What? Did I do something?"

Facing the sorcerer and frowning slightly, the snake witch grabs her arm. "Look, I don't know why you keep doing this. I was hoping today you wouldn't try anything but here you are, trying to touch me!"

Noah takes a step back and winces, his feelings slightly hurt. "Hey well I mean…yesterday…I thought…"

Shaking her head, Medusa sighs. "Just don't, okay? I don't know how to feel about this…not right now…"

Stepping forward, Noah attempts to put his arm around Medusa but his hand is swatted away. "Noah I said no! Just…stop…"

Leaning towards her ear, Noah whispers. "Please…I need someone…I…I lost Gopher and Giriko already…I don't want to lose you too..." Looking away, Medusa shook her head. "Noah…don't…not now…"

"Um…guys?"

The pair turning, they see Free and Eruka standing cautiously as a lone figure steps forward. Medusa's eyes widen as she sees the pink haired figure step forward. "Crona…" Confused, Noah looks from Medusa to Crona. Eruka mutters under her breath to Noah. "Its her son…"

With that, the male understood and his eyes soon widen as well. "Uh…"

Gulping and backing away, Crona bites his lip. _I-I can't fight…I'm already wounded from the fight with Justin…_

Medusa's face turns to a scowl and she raises her arm, preparing for a vector place.

"Don't."

Noah's arm quickly grasps Medusa's wrist and he shakes his head at her. "Don't do it Medusa…"

His tone sent a strange feeling down her stomach. She blinks and lowers her arm, looking down. F-Fine…but I'm not letting him escape." Noah nods and crosses his arms. "Fair enough." Cutting off Crona's escape, Free and Eruka glance at each other unsure of what to do.

Back in Kid's group, everyone had decided to rest for the day. The only ones awake were Soul and Maka. Maka lay on Soul's lap, her hands on his chest as she gazed up at him, looking into his eyes. "Soul…I…"

What had led to this moment between meister and weapon was quiet simple. Soul had been ready to rest when he noticed Maka was troubled. He had gone over to her in hopes of cheering her up and pretty soon found himself holding her in his arms. "I love you." Those were the words said by Soul to Maka just now as they found themselves in this position.

Blushing lightly and tensing up, Soul cleared his throat. "Yeah, Maka…?"

Her arms went around his neck as she gently places her lips on his. Closing her eyes, Maka deepens the kiss, not pulling away from Soul. Kissing back, the male let his eyes shut as his arms soon found themselves on Maka's waist, holding her closely. Breaking the kiss, Soul looks into Maka's eyes with a determined look. "Maka, I swear to you, no matter what I won't let anyone hurt you…"

Smiling warmly, Maka buries her head into his chest. "I'm glad. Soul, I love you…"

END OF CHAPTER 11  
DEATH COUNT: 6


	12. Chapter 12

"W-Why are you tying me up!" Crona demands as Free and Eruka take rope and tie it around Crona as he is held back in a tree. Noah crosses his arms, looking at the boy. "Because you're dangerous according to your mother. Just as dangerous as Justin. Can't risk anything. Sorry kid."

"J-Just let me go!" Crona whimpers and struggles against the rope tied around him. Shaking his head, Noah crosses his arms. "Can't do that."

The pink haired child cries out as he uses all his strength to try to break free. Noah sighs and removes his plaid golf cap. "Look kid, you aren't going to get anywhere trying that…"

Shaking his head and refusing to listen, Crona continues to struggle. "Y-You don't understand! It's Justin! He m-might be coming this way!" Tensing up and glancing over at Medusa, Noah opens his mouth but no words come out. Shaking her head angrily, Medusa frowns. "He's lying. Its probably a trick to try and get us to let him go."

"N-No I'm being serious! I-I was with him! I barely got away!"

Looking from Crona to Medusa, Free rubs the back of his neck nervously. "I dunno Lady Medusa…he seems too shaken to be lying, don't you think?"

Glaring at Free, Medusa hisses. "You dare question me?" Looking down quickly, Free shakes his head. Noah lets out a small chuckle and then puts his cap back on. "Okay so I can see we're all on edge about this so tell ya what…I'll go check it out. If I find Justin then expect me to not be back for a while. If he ain't there then I'll be back before you know it. Sound good?"

Free gives a slight nod and Eruka murmurs in agreement. Medusa merely scowls and rolls her eyes. "I can't believe you're actually considering that. It's a lie, I'm telling you." Smiling warmly, Noah steps over to Medusa and hooks his arm around her waist. "Ah, is someone going to miss me? Heh."

Blushing lightly, the witch scoffs and turns her head away. "Yeah yeah…whatever…"

Grinning, the sorcerer plants a soft kiss on the witch's lips and then pulls away, walking off. "I'll be back in a bit then." Free raises his brow and gives Medusa a look of utter disbelief. "Since when were you two exclusive?"

Frowning at the floor and hiding her blush, Medusa crosses her arms. "We're not…"

Whistling as he walks in search of Justin, the male sorcerer smirks as he licks his lips. _God that snake witch is cute. I'll make her mine. In time. _He suddenly stops and squints as he sees a figure up ahead. His eyes soon widen at realizing that the figure was none other than Justin Law. He was surprised to see the young death scythe bleeding. Justin was breathing rather heavily as he held his wound, an evil glare on his face.

Sighing and quickly glancing at the book of Eibon, Noah raises his brow. "This is going to be a pain."

Staring up at the sky, Black*Star stops to ponder for a minute. _So uh…how many days have passed? Like…five? Six? Maybe even seven? _He suddenly bursts out laughing, grinning proudly. _Haha! The mighty Black*Star is still alive! How do you like that, Kishin! I will never die! Yahoo!_

"Um…Black*Star?"

The blue haired male turns around to see his weapon and friend, Tsubaki. "Um would you like to join us? Kid said he had an idea for what we could do tonight so…" The kind female smiles gently and Black*Star grins, nodding. "Of course I'll join! It's what a star would do! Haha!"

Sitting down with the others, Black*Star and Tsubaki turn their attention to Kid. The male shinigami sighs softly and looks up, meeting everyone's gaze. "So it was just now that I decided for this but…I thought it might help us forget about this dumb death battle…"

Tilting her head at an angle, Maka gives Kid a curious look. "What exactly did you have in mind?"

Kid offers a kind smile. "Well I was thinking…Maybe we could talk about life. Pretend that this isn't here. That we aren't here." Nodding, Soul smirks. "I kinda like that idea. Don't even acknowledge the fact that we're here dude." Smirking, Liz turns to look at Kid. "You remember the past week when we were at Maka's house?"

Recalling the event, Kid cowers in fear. "Oh no…please don't speak of the unsymmetrical home...Maka how do you live with yourself!" Giggling, Maka kindly smiles. "I'll be honest, I personally had everything unsymmetrical that day just to throw you off."

"Ah! Why would you do something so sinister!"

Laughing, the group tells stories all night. Smiling widely, Maka gazes up towards the darkening sky. _Its really crazy how we're having a blast right now. It's the first time we've all laughed since we got thrown into this. I wish tonight would just last forever…_

Frowning angrily at the camera screen, Asura scoffs and turns away. "How boring. Those kids better start killing each other soon. They waste their time telling stories? I just don't get it! What good will that do!" Looking back at his cameras, he gives a slight yawn and then fixes his attention to the battle between Noah and Justin. "At least this will keep me occupied. This rivalry is really heating up."

Still tied to a tree with Medusa watching over him, Crona's eyelids begin to grow heavy. His wound hadn't been tended to and even though the bleeding had stopped, he was still hurting. Groaning lightly, Crona feels his head drop and the rest of his body grows weak. Smirking, Medusa approaches him. "What's the matter? Feeling tired? How does it feel knowing you can't harden your blood from your weak body?"

Feeling rather annoyed, Free sighs and frowns. "C'mon Lady Medusa you don't have to be like that to him." As she turns to glare at him he avoids her eyes and looks away. Looking back at Crona, the snake witch smirks. "Just look at you. You're pathetic. You might even die here if your wound doesn't get patched up."

Crona barely looks up and mutters, "Y-You'll die, mother…You'll all d-die…"

Grabbing Crona by his neck, Medusa angrily snarls. "How dare you-"

"RUN!"

The sudden voice makes everyone turn to see Noah rushing towards them. His cheek was bleeding and he had a cut above his eye. "Justin's here! You guys have to go, now!"

Eyes wide and barely having time to react, Medusa notices the priest quickly approaching from behind. "But Noah! You-"

Putting a finger to her lips, the sorcerer shakes his head. "Don't waste your time worrying about me. You all need to go. Now!"

Turning to Free and Eruka, Medusa gives a nod and they both take off, running. Looking at Crona, she frowns and runs off, not bothering to untie him. As Justin soon stands in front of Noah, he growls angrily. The male sorcerer smiles and lowly chuckles. "Kinda wish I had asked Medusa for a kiss just in case that was my last time seeing her. Oh well."

Glaring, Justin lunges forward, his blades going for Noah's neck. Seeing the attack coming, Noah casually side steps away and smirks, bringing up the book of Eibon. "Might as well go all out, don't ya think?"

Before Justin can attack again, Noah mutters a few words under his breath and a large purple glowing worm creature emerges from the book. "Ha! Here we are!" Grinning, the sorcerer flashes Justin a smile. Angrily clenching his teeth, the death scythe charges forward, attacking the worm and trading blows with it. Noah's grin soon disappears as he sees Justin muttering something like a prayer under his breath.

"Oh crap, that's-"

Quickly leaping out of the way, Noah ducks under a boulder to avoid the blast as he hears Justin yell out, "Law abiding silver gun!" The blue beam shoots a hole in the worm, disintegrating the creature. Pulling on his cap tighter, Noah takes a deep breath. "Looks like I'll need a different approach. He is a death scythe after all…"

The sorcerer turns to look at a certain tree and just notices that a pink haired boy was tied to it. His eyes widen as he realizes Crona had been tied up all this time. "Oh shit."

It seemed that Justin noticed it too and the death scythe soon approached Crona with a rather displeased look on his face. Crona barely took notice, his gaze on the floor as his loss of blood had come at a heavy cost. Justin raises his blade and utters a single word, "Die."

As the blade comes down, blood pours out, coating Justin's blade in warm, thick red substance.

Glaring angrily, the priest jumps back. "You dare interfere!?"

Noah huffs loudly as his arm remains up and bleeding. He looks back at Crona and sighs. The child was unhurt. _Why the hell did I just do that…Why did I help the kid…it would have been one less contestant so why…_

Standing up straight and facing Justin, he frowns slightly at him. "We have unfinished business, Justin."

Clenching his fists, Noah steps towards him. "Justin Law, I'm taking your soul."

END OF CHAPTER 12  
DEATH COUNT: 6


	13. Chapter 13

The death scythe lets out a roar of laughter. "You're going to take my soul!? You're going to kill me?"

"Yes. I'm ending your life today. That's a promise" the sorcerer says with a grin. Looking over at Crona, Noah begins to untie him. "You need to get out of here, kid. Things are gonna get ugly." Groaning lightly, Crona says nothing as he was too weak to move or speak. Sighing, the male sets the pink haired boy down and turns to face Justin. "Thanks for being so patient. I didn't think of you as someone who would be fair in a fight."

Justin scowls and points his blades towards Noah. "I'll cut you open nice and slow. I'm going to enjoy killing you Noah. It'll be great! Just imagine Gopher watching this from above! He'll be crying his eyes out seeing you get torn apart!"

Noah's smile fades and turns to a death glare at the mention of Gopher. "Don't you talk about him, Justin. You don't have the right." Grinning from ear to ear, Justin goes on. "It's funny really. Remember when I killed him? He had been squirming and crying, begging for you to save him. It was great, really. You were supposed to be his knight in shining armor. Except this time…the dragon kills the princess."

"Enough!" Rushing forward with his veins pulsing, Noah opens the book of Eibon.

"Summoning…Manticore!" Immediately, a large creature emerges from the book, its eyes fixed on Justin. "Kill him! Kill him now!" Noah orders angrily. The manticore hisses at it lunges at Justin, attacking him fiercely. Backing away from the huge creature, Justin scoffs. "You underestimate me, Noah! I'll kill your damned beast in a single blow!"

Muttering a prayer under his breath, the priest grins as he prepares his attack. Seeing what Justin was doing, Noah charges him and attempts to hit him. "Not this time! You're not doing it again!"

Cursing under his breath, Justin is forced to stop his praying in order to block Noah. The priest feels his eyes widen as he sees the manticore's tail lunge at him. Turning his body to the right, Justin winces as the tail pierces his side. Grabbing Justin's throat, Noah cries out as he slams him onto the ground. "Fuck you, Justin! Just die alrea-"

The priest quickly slashes at Noah, cutting open the male's stomach. Coughing up blood, the sorcerer falls to his side and gasps for breath, holding onto his wound. Sitting up, Justin looks over at Noah but before he can finish him off, the manticore grabs his leg with its tail and tosses him at a tree.

Grunting lowly and panting, Justin barely is able to look up as he begins to pray, seeing the manticore approach him. It lunges at the priest, its tail ready to pierce his heart.

"Law abiding…silver…gun!"

The powerful beam sends the creature flying as it slams into a tree and lies still for a moment before disintegrating. Groaning, Justin stands and limps to Noah. "You…pathetic…fool…"

Suddenly, the sound of yelling makes Justin turn. His eyes go wide as he sees Crona a few feet away with his sword ready to pierce him. Growling in pain, Justin is sent falling to the ground as Crona pierces his rib cage with Ragnarok.

Coughing up blood in plentiful amounts, Justin's breathing gets heavier. The blonde raises his hand up to the sky, his sight growing dim. "Kishin-sama…I…I have failed you…" Approaching Justin, Crona looks at him with nervous eyes. The priest smiles lightly. "Are you…going to…take my life?"

Shaking his head, Crona holds his arm. "N-No…I-I'm going to let you suffer and die a-alone…" Turning to walk away, Crona is stopped by Justin's voice. "Tell me child…am I truly evil?"

Looking at the blonde male, Crona gives a puzzled look. Justin goes on, "Yes I killed…its an unbearable sin…but am I really evil? I was simply playing by the rules…I was playing the game…Doing exactly what was asked…what, you think there's a happy ending? You think just because I'll die, your friends are safe? This is barely the end of week one. Soon someone else will start killing…just you watch…"

Before Crona could reply, he noticed Justin's eyes go blank. He was dead. Sighing softly, Crona turns around and begins to walk when he notices a figure sitting by a tree. Approaching the figure, he saw that it was Noah. Looking up at the pink haired boy, the sorcerer weakly smiles. "He's dead now…huh?"

Nodding, Crona stared at him, noticing that his stomach had a deep wound and he was still bleeding. Lifting his head up to look at the sky, Noah closes his eyes. "Good…I guess it doesn't matter if I die then now…My goal was for Gopher and Giriko to be avenged…Justin is dead now…thanks to you."

Groaning in pain, Noah grasps his bleeding stomach. "Hey kid…do you think maybe you could…put me out of my misery? This pain is unbearable…"

Blinking, Crona takes a step back. "W-What?"

"I want you to kill me, kid. There's no way I can live after taking a hit like that. I'm losing too much blood." The pink haired male stutters, trying to find other options. "B-But what about your book! Y-Yeah can't you just-"

Shaking his head, Noah looks to the book of Eibon that was now torn apart. "Justin cut through the book. I had no other choice but to block with it when Justin attacked me. Otherwise I'd be dead but seeing things now, it would appear that it doesn't matter…"

Shivering, Crona shakes his head. "I-I can't…"

Frowning, the sorcerer looks up at him. "Not trying to be rude but…that's bullshit. You've already killed Justin. Why can't you kill me?"

Shaking and on the verge of tears, Crona shakes his head. "I…I just can't okay! I can't do it!"

"Do it, god damn you! Kill me! If you can't kill me how do you expect to survive out there? You won't get far if you don't have a killing instinct when the time comes. You need to be ready for that, kid! So do it!"

Raising his sword, Crona looks away and sniffs. "B-But I don't want to! I-I just want to go home!"

Sighing, the male sorcerer closes his eyes. "The sooner you kill me, the sooner you'll get home. I promise. So please, just do it." Clenching his fists, Noah takes a deep breath. _Medusa…Gopher…Giriko…_

Quickly bringing his sword down, a _thunk _sound is heard as it soon gets lodged in Noah's head. Crying and taking his sword off, Crona runs off, not wanting to look at any more dead people.

Muttering, Asura crosses his arms. "Seriously? Justin is dead…maybe making that bet with Arachne wasn't such a good idea…Oh well…At least Crona is still in this…but wow! What a show! Two more deaths to end the week! That's what I'm talking about!" Grinning, the Kishin lets out a chuckle as he turns to look at his blackboard. "Time to cross out some more names! That never gets old."

Maka blinks as she stares at the sky. Soul sits next to her and gently squeezes her hand. "Whatcha thinking about, Maka?" The ash blonde haired girl shrugs. "Nothing really…I was just admiring the sky…it looks so peaceful here, you know?"

Nodding, Soul glances up with her. "Yeah…" Sighing gently, Maka places her head on Soul's chest and closes her eyes. Holding her closely, the white haired male kisses her head. "We'll go home soon, Maka…I promise…"

The female relaxes in Soul's arms, feeling his protective touch. "Maka I swear to you, I won't let anything happen to you. I love you…"

Smiling happily, Maka looks up at him and gently kisses him on the lips. She cups his cheeks and tilts her head. "Thank you…Soul…" His grip on her soon tightened and he remained with a determined look on his face. _No matter what, I can't let anything happen to Maka. I'd gladly risk my life for her…if in the end its ever just us two…I'd gladly let her win…_

As Soul and Maka soon fall asleep in each other's arms, three shadows cower over them.

"Just look at them. So oblivious to all the death going on around them. Perhaps its time for an example."

Medusa glowers at the sleeping couple as she looks around at the rest of Maka's group. They were all sleeping as well, not bothering to have anyone on watch. The snake witch scoffs and turns to face Free and Eruka. "Just look at them. So pitiful. They think they have it easy."

"What are you going to do, Lady Medusa?" Eruka asks. The witch grins widely as she turns back to the sleeping children. "I'm going to break them. All of them. I'll have them playing the game by the end of this week."

END OF CHAPTER 13  
DEATH COUNT: 8  
R.I.P. Justin Law and Noah


	14. Chapter 14

It had been exactly three days since the deaths of Justin and Noah. No one else had died in the meantime. But following the events of Medusa coming across Kid's group, it seemed that Maka and Kim had been kidnapped.

Soul clenches his fists and glares at the sky. "I swear when I find that witch, she better pray that I don't kill her. Nobody hurts my meister…" Kid puts a hand on Soul's shoulder causing the male to turn around. "Relax, Soul. We'll find them. You'll get Maka back. I promise you that." Sighing, Soul smiles a bit and nods. "Thanks dude…"

Jackie crosses her arms and looks down, feeling herself shrink. Kim was taken. She was kidnapped by Medusa. She was sure that Medusa would kill her soon. _Kim…damn it, no! I won't let this stupid game take my best friend! _Looking up, she sees Ox standing over her. "Jackie. I need your help." Curiously looking at the male, Jackie tilts her head. "Need my help on what?"

Ox looks to the side and bites his lip. "I…I don't have a weapon anymore…and well I don't want to put the twins in danger so...do you think maybe you could be my weapon? Just temporarily. Until we find Kim." Blinking, Jackie thinks for a moment. _Seriously? Is he for real? _

She shrugs her shoulders and flips her hair back. "Fine. Whatever. As long as we get Kim back. That's all I care about." Nodding, Ox offers her his hand and she blinks in surprise. Raising her brow, Jackie looks up at him. "What the hell is this?"

"A gesture. That we'll both protect each other no matter what. We can't die if we want to get Kim back. You got my back, I got yours sort of thing" Ox explains. Smirking, Jackie takes his hand and shakes it. "You are such a weirdo sometimes."

Sitting alone in the snowy area of the island, Crona hugs his knees and ponders. Noah's words were still ringing in his head. _If you can't kill me how do you expect to survive out there? You won't get far if you don't have a killing instinct when the time comes. You need to be ready for that, kid!_

Looking down, Crona fidgets with his feet. "Killer instinct, huh…" Sniffing a bit, the male wipes at his tears that start to roll down his cheek. "I don't know h-how to deal with all of this…" Standing up, he rubs his arm and continues walking, his head down and his shoulders drooping. At hearing the sound of voices in the distance, Crona raises his head and turns. He could just barely make out the figures. There were at least five of them. As he narrows his eyes to try to make out the figures, he takes a step back and lets out a gasp. "M-Maka…"

In the distance was Maka with Kim at her side and both girls had nervous looks on their faces. Medusa walked behind them, her hand raised to them, ready to strike at any moment. Biting her lip and hiding her anger, Maka clenches her fists. _Damn you, Medusa! Just you wait…Soul and the others will find you soon…_

Free and Eruka exchange glances and mutter each other a few words. Medusa snaps her head back at the pair. "Is there a problem?" Eruka quickly shakes her head. "No of course not Lady Medusa!"

Medusa scoffs and rolls her eyes as she turns back to the two DWMA students. Kim shivers and holds herself, staring ahead. Maka glances over at Medusa and stares into her eyes angrily. The witch smirks and tilts her head. "What is it, child? Do you hate me?"

Looking away, Maka clenches her teeth and growls a bit. "I'll get you for this, Medusa…"

Outside of the isolated island, the DWMA was still searching frantically for the lost meisters and weapons. Running his hands through his hair in frustration, Spirit Albarn curses under his breath. "its been over a week, Lord Death…we still have nothing…"

Chairs were set up in a circle around the Death Room. At the very end sat Lord Death himself with a serious look. "We have no idea what has happened to our fellow students. But I assure you Spirit we will find them. We'll do whatever it takes to get them back." Crossing his arms, Franken Stein lets out a sigh. "This search appears to be going nowhere. We have nothing on their whereabouts and we're one staff member short. Sid appears to have gone missing around the same time as the children."

Sniffing and wiping her tears, Marie Mjolnir bites her lip. "Those poor children! W-Who knows what they're going through at the moment…" Adjusting her glasses and folding her arms, Azusa Yumi turns to look at Lord Death. "Any other ideas, Lord Death? We really have nothing to go on."

Shaking his head, Lord Death stares at the floor blankly. "I'm afraid not…"

Standing up quickly and glaring, Spirit bites down on his tongue and soon tastes warm blood in his mouth. "How much longer do you expect us to wait, Lord Death!? How much longer until we find them! I'm sick and tired of these bullshit promises! I need my Maka! I need my daughter!"

Stein quickly puts his hand on Spirit's shoulder. "Relax Spirit, you just need-"

Swatting his hand away, Spirit angrily shakes his head. "No, damn you! What I need is Maka! I need her to be safe! She's all I had left, don't you get that!?"

Slamming his hand down, Lord Death quickly yells out, "ENOUGH!"

With that, every person in the room goes quiet and Spirit sits down, staring at his feet. Sighing, Lord Death rubs his head. "Oh dear, my head aches from all this stress." Looking at Spirit, Lord Death continues. "Spirit. I understand your pain. I know how you must feel about all this. My son has gone missing too as you all know."

Nodding, the staff members all look at each other for a moment. Standing up, Lord Death claps his hands together. "So! We need results! If we can't find them anywhere near here then search places that have never been researched before! Caves, underground tunnels, islands, sewers, everything! We must not rest until we find the children!"

Murmuring in agreement, the DWMA staff members stand up and quickly walk out of the Death Room with filled determination. "Wait Spirit. Not you." The red haired male turns around slowly. "What is it?"

Lord Death gives him a look that sent a strange feeling into his stomach. He soon gets nervous at Lord Death's words. "I have a special task for you."

Crying out as she hits the floor, Kim cowers in fear and looks up at the witch. Medusa scoffs and rolls her eyes. "Didn't you hear what I said? Get going!" Her lip quivering, Kim bursts into tears and stays on the floor. Glaring angrily, Medusa raises her hand. "You stupid-"

"Wait!" Maka rushes to Kim's side and helps her up, looking back at Medusa. "Its fine…she can walk…"

Smirking, the witch crosses her arms. "Fine then. But if for any reason you two stop walking, I'll pierce you in the back." Frowning, Maka turns away from her and looks at Kim. "C'mon now Kim you have to keep moving…"

The pink haired female sniffs and wipes her eyes as she begins to walk with Maka holding her arm. "I need Ox…and Jackie…" Nodding slowly, Maka sighs. "We'll get to them soon. Don't worry." Standing behind Medusa and glancing at each other, Eruka and Free give a slight nod. "Lady Medusa."

Turning around, the witch frowns. "What do you two want?"

Taken by surprise, the witch feels her eyes widen as Free lunges forward, attempting to claw at her face. Getting grazed on her cheek, Medusa winces and backs away. "Just what do you think you're doing!?"

Frowning at Medusa, Eruka steps forward. "We don't want to be your little slaves anymore Medusa. We're done." Hissing in anger, Medusa raises her hand. "You do realize I still have my snakes inside you, right!? I can just kill you!"

Free growls and steps in front of Eruka. "I won't let you do that." Maka starts to back away with Kim as she sees the situation start to get out of hand. She looks at the pink haired female and whispers, "We have to go, now…before its too late…"

It was right then that Maka heard a familiar voice call out to her. "M-Maka…"

Turning around, her eyes widen as she sees Crona emerge. "Crona! What are you-"

"Maka! Kim!"

More voices. Only this time it sounded like…Soul! The white haired male rushes forward, only to stop in front of Medusa. Kid and the others look around at everyone and nervously gulp. Everyone was here. There was no way out of this situation. Sooner or later someone was going to die.

Grinning widely, the Kishin lets out a laugh. "This is going to be great! Everyone is here, Arachne! This is the battle in which all bets will be made! Right here!" Smiling gently, Arachne fans herself and nods. "Indeed. This shall be interesting. I'm curious on how it'll play out." Rubbing his chin, Asura smirks and licks his lips. "This is it. This is what we've been waiting for."

Outside of the island, a male in a large bear mask watches. "Whoa, what do we have here?" The male scratches the top of his mask and chuckles. "If I'm correct, that's a sphere of madness surrounding the island." Stretching and yawning, the male stands up straight. "Well, looks like I should notify Lord Death."

Back on the island, all the contestants had stopped moving to stare at each other. No one moved for a long moment. Maka felt the sweat dripping down her face as she nervously bit on her lip. _What's going to happen? This isn't looking good…_

Scoffing, Asura looks to one of his switches. "If they keep standing like that, I'll have to scare them to make them kill each other!"

Smiling, the spider witch nods. "Go ahead, Asura. I think it would certainly make things jumpy for them." Grinning, the Kishin presses the button.

It was at that moment that a booming sound was heard that shook the entire island. Everyone stares at the ground and screams as they see large cracks forming. Kid quickly looks up and shouts, "Everybody move! The ground is about to give out!"

At those words, everybody finally snaps back into reality and scrambles to get to a safe area. Running to Maka, Soul sees that the ground below her was ready to give out. "Maka! Move-"

Before she could react, the floor under her caved inwards and Maka lets out a shriek as she finds herself falling down.

END OF CHAPTER 14  
DEATH COUNT: 8


	15. Chapter 15

Quickly reaching for her, Soul extends his hand. "MAKA!"

Taking his hand, Maka cries out and shuts her eyes. "S-Soul! Help!"

Groaning, Soul uses all of his strength to try and pull Maka up but he still found himself unable to pull her all the way up. "Damn it…hang on Maka!"

"I'm trying! Please hurry, Soul!"

Another hand suddenly reaches down to help Maka. As Soul looks, he sees its Crona. "M-Maka!"

With Crona's help, Soul is able to pull Maka back up. Gasping for breath, Soul gets Maka to her feet. "We gotta get out of here! Like, now!"

Looking towards the others, Maka's eyes go wide as she sees Ox and Black*Star engaging in battle with Medusa. Hissing, Medusa backs away and attacks them with her vector arrows. Blocking the attack, Black*Star rushes forward. "Tsubaki, lets go!" Leaping into the air, Black*Star yells as he swings Tsubaki in sword mode, at Medusa.

The witch uses her vector plate to back away and avoid the attack. Glaring, Black*Star prepares for another attack.

"No, she's mine!"

Looking back, the blue haired male sees Ox charge forward with Jackie in her lantern form. Yelling angrily, Ox lunges at Medusa. "This is for kidnapping Kim!"

Scoffing, Medusa raises her arm and launches a vector arrow at him. "Fool!" As the vector arrow rushes towards him, Ox quickly leans to the right to avoid the attack and then yells for Jackie to attack. "Do it now, Jackie!"

At hearing Ox bark out the order, Jackie spews out fire in her lantern form, catching Medusa off guard. The witch shrieks as some of the fire burns off part of her skin from her arm. Growling angrily and jumping back, Medusa glares. "You stupid kids!"

Kim had been watching the battle go on for a bit now. She nervously gazed from Medusa to Ox. "No…don't hurt them…" As the battle continued, Kim saw that something was wrong. Medusa seemed to be attacking less, allowing Ox to press on. It might have seemed that Ox was winning but that couldn't be it. Her stomach told her that something wasn't right.

Kim lets out a gasp as she realizes what Medusa was doing. _She's playing him on…she wants him to attack. She wants Ox to get tired so that when he does, she can kill him!_ Running forward, Kim yells out, "Ox! Jackie! Don't! It's just what she wants!"

Unable to hear Kim, Ox continues his assault, attacking more aggressively. "Damn you, Medusa! Just die already!"

Running even faster, Kim pants as she gets closer to Ox. She opens her mouth to speak but her eyes soon widen. She wouldn't be able to say it in time. Medusa just raised her hand. She was going to kill OX.

Sensing the attack, Ox attempts to back away. But it would be too late. By the time he did, he would be pierced by Medusa. Realizing the same thing, Jackie quickly cries out. "Ox, you-"

It was too late then.

The vector arrow pierced the skin.

Kim's skin.

His eyes wide in shock, Ox's lip quivers as he sees Kim standing in front of him with her arms spread out. She smiles softly at him, the arrow directly below her heart. "I'm glad…I could…protect you two…"

Falling down face first, Kim's body lies on the ground, bleeding heavily. Ox yells out as he kneels down beside Kim. "NO! KIM! NO, DAMN IT! DON'T DIE KIM!" Turning back into her human form, Jackie was already in tears, seeing Kim's body. "Oh my Death…Kim…why would you…"

Medusa rolls her eyes and crosses her arms. "How pathetic. You waste your time crying over a girl who sacrificed herself for you. Should have taken the chance to attack me while you could. Stupid children."

Barely alive, Kim tilts her head and lightly giggles. "Its okay guys. I protected you. That's all that matters. I love you…guys…" Suddenly, the pink haired female grows stiff and her facial expression remains the same. Shaking her body, Ox shakes his head. "No. No. This can't be happening."

Stepping towards them, Medusa raises her hand. "How pitiful. But look on the bright side, you'll die next to your beloved friend."

"She was my girlfriend. She was finally mine…My beloved Kim." Staring at Kim's corpse, Ox bites his lip harshly and clenches his fists. "She's dead now. Dead because of you!" Standing quickly and throwing a punch at Medusa, Ox yells in anger.

The punch came as a surprise to Medusa. She stumbles back as she's hit across the face. Holding Kim's body, Jackie widens her eyes at Ox's sudden behavior. "Ox! Wait! You can't fight her alone like that!"

Ignoring Jackie, Ox runs to Medusa and reaches for her neck. "You killed Kim!"

Falling back, Medusa hisses in anger. Ox's hands find her neck and he begins to squeeze down, angry tears in his eyes. "You killed her. You killed my beloved K-" His eyes widen and he coughs up blood, looking down at his stomach. He hadn't even heard Medusa preparing for her attack. Shoving Ox off of her, Medusa rubs her neck and gets to her feet. "Idiot…"

Coughing and spitting out blood, Ox clenches his stomach and crawls to Kim. "My…beloved…" Wincing in pain, Ox musters up enough strength to sit up as he holds onto his deceased girlfriend. "Kim…I'm sorry…I was stupid…and now I'm going to die…"

Watching, Jackie covers her mouth and holds back the tears. "Ox…"

Glancing over at Jackie, Ox grits his teeth. "Run. You have to run now. Or Medusa will get you too."

"R-Run? But Ox I can't-"

"RUN!" Ox snaps as Medusa approaches them casually. Standing up and running, Jackie bursts into tears. _Why!? Why does everyone I know die around me!?_

Staring at Jackie, Medusa scoffs and raises her hand. "Just die." Before the vector arrow gets to Jackie however, Ox uses the last of his strength to leap up and take the hit, getting pierced in his chest. Looking back and seeing what Ox did only makes Jackie cry harder as she looks back forward and runs faster.

Ox's body collapses, lying next to Kim's. Glaring at the corpses, Medusa shakes her head. "I just don't get it. Why sacrifice yourselves like that?"

"Yahoo!"

The sudden sound came from above Medusa and she turns her head to see Black*Star grinning. "Your soul is mine!"

Suddenly a crack is heard in the ground and Medusa looks down to see the floor cave in. "Son of a -"

Screaming loudly, Medusa falls in. Unable to stop himself from his leap, Black*Star's eyes widen as he finds himself falling down the hole as well.

Thinking quickly, Black*Star pierces a part of the hole's side to stop himself from falling all the way down. "Haha! I'm a genius, huh Tsubaki?"

"Yes of course you are Black*Star! But…do you think we should keep going down? To make sure Medusa is…you know…"

The blue haired male thinks for a moment and then nods as he descends. "Good thinking! I'll go finish off the witch if she's alive! Then she'll never hurt anyone again!"

As he reaches the bottom, he narrows his eyes as it was hard to see in the dark area. "Tsubaki does something about this place seem strange to you?"

"Now that I think of it, yes it does."

Frowning, Black*Star also notices that Medusa was nowhere to be found. "Hmm…she must still be alive." Walking into a light at the corner, Black*Star squints as it gets brighter the closer he gets. As he hears the sound of murmurs, Black*Star hides behind a wall. _Is that Medusa?_ The voice grows louder and soon he realizes there are two people talking. A male and a female.

"It's a shame really. I hadn't expected your sister to fall into the hole and die. Oh well. One less person to deal with. And hey that's three dead in a single day."

A woman chuckles in the distance. "Yes indeed. But like I told you, my sister would have died sooner or later. Although the question now is…who dies next?"

Black*Star knew those voices. They were all too familiar. It was Asura and Arachne!

Black*Star tenses up as the realization comes in. _No way…I just found Asura's secret lair!_

END OF CHAPTER 15  
DEATH COUNT: 10  
R.I.P. Kim Diehl and Ox Ford


	16. Chapter 16

"What!?"

Spirit Albarn felt his eyes widen as he received the news. The male in the bear mask nods. "Yup, it's true. I saw a sphere of madness there. It was huge. May be worth checking it out."

The pair were communicating through mirror, Spirit standing in the center of the Death Room with Lord Death. The shinigami seemed just as thrilled from the news. "This is good, Tezca. Thank you very much for this information. Try to get more information about the sphere of madness if you could."

"I'll see what I can do. Gimme a bit of time and I'll be back before you know it" Tezca replies. Nodding, Lord Death claps his hands together. "Very well. Lets hope we may talk again soon then." With that, the call ends and Tezca's image fades. Quickly looking at the shinigami, Spirit bursts out, "Do you think it's the kids? Could they possibly be in there!?"

Nodding a bit, Lord Death looks off in the distance. "Yes, it's a possibility. But we don't know for sure yet. We have to be sure first. That's why I'm having Tezca get more information." Spirit was already on his way out of the room. "Who cares on getting information? Let's just go!"

"No Spirit. We can't do that. Its simply too soon."

Groaning, Sprit frowns. "My daughter could be in there…how do you expect me to wait…"

"Because we don't know if they're in there. For all we know, it could be a trap or something entirely different and unrelated to the missing children. And I lost my son too, Spirit. We're in the same boat" Lord Death explains. Sighing, Spirit shakes his head. Lord Death was right. He'd have to wait.

Black*Star continues to listen until the two voices get further and eventually leave the area. "Okay, Tsubaki! Here's the plan. First we-"

A hand quickly grabs Black*Star from behind causing him to flair around in surprise and shock. A sharp voice quickly hisses at his ear. "Shut up you brat." Turning around, the blue haired male saw that it was Medusa Gorgon. Stumbling back, Black*Star tenses up. "So I was right! You really aren't dead!"

Snapping her fingers and hissing at him, Medusa narrows her eyes. "I said shut up! Do you want my sister and the Kishin to hear you!"

Crossing his arms, Black*Star raises his brow. "What's with you? You're not going to kill me?"

Growling, Medusa pushes past him and sneaks forward. "No, I'm not. Not yet that is." Following after Medusa, Black*Star glances at Tsubaki who was in her human form. "What do you think she's up to?"

Giving a nervous shrug, Tsubaki holds her arm. "Not sure exactly…but this is Medusa we're talking about so…" Nodding, the blue haired male follows after Medusa and tilts his head. "What exactly are you up to, snake witch?"

Rolling her eyes, Medusa scoffs. "Isn't that obvious? I'm trying to find a way out of here. Now you can either stand there like a fool and get caught by the Kishin or you can help me get out of this living hell."

Back on top of the island, Maka and Soul both glance at the hole that Black*Star and Medusa fell in. Gulping, Maka begins to shiver. "Do you think Black*Star and Tsubaki are okay?" Holding her closely, Soul sighs and shakes his head. "I don't know Maka. I don't know."

Glancing at Free and Eruka, Kid cautiously circles around them. "So you two were with Medusa right?"

Frowning, the wolf man speaks. "Yeah we _were._ But not anymore." Raising his twin pistols at the two, Kid glares. "Considering you were both in an alliance with the witch who murdered my friends, I don't see why I can't just take your souls."

As Free sees Eruka begin to tremble, he steps in front of her. "Back off, brat!"

Biting his tongue, Kid puts his finger to the triggers of his guns. "I'll blow you away."

Seeing the scene before her, Maka's eyes widen and she rushes to Kid, leaving Soul dazed and confused. Yelling out after Kid, Maka says, "Kid! Don't! Its just what he wants! You'll play right into Asura's hands!"

Ignoring Maka, Kid pulls the triggers, muttering under his breath. "Die scum."

Picking up Eruka and rushing away, Free desperately runs to get away from Kid's attack. Nearly tackling Kid down, Maka grabs his arms and shakes her head. "Stop it, Kid! Don't do it! You can't play the game!"

Crying out in anger, Kid shoves Maka off, forcing her to the ground. He turns to look at her with a crazed anger in his eyes. "How can you tell me to not do it? They killed them. They killed Kim and Ox!"

Shivering on the floor, Maka avoids Kid's eyes. "N-No…Medusa killed them. Those two didn't do anything…and besides…we can't do what the Kishin wants." Glaring at Maka angrily, Kid kneels down and forcibly grabs her shoulders. "You don't get it Maka! We have no choice! We have to play the game! We either play or we die! You hear me!? We play or-"

A loud _thunk _is heard as Kid falls unconscious and Jackie stands over him with one of the twin pots in gauntlet form. "Sorry…he was getting loud." Helping Maka up, Jackie looks at Kid's body. "Did he lose it just now?"

Reverting back to human form, Liz and Patty glance at the young shinigami. Sighing, Liz kneels beside him. "I'll wait here for him to wake up. Hopefully he isn't crazy." Patty tilts her head and looks over at Maka. "Are you okay? Did Kiddo-kun scare ya?"

Looking away, Maka nervously holds her arm. It was just then that Crona's scared voice called out. "M-Maka! S-Soul is…!"

Shooting her head up, Maka's eyes widen as she sees Soul lying on the floor, a pool of blood around him. Screaming, Maka runs to him. "SOUL!"

The pair had finally managed to escape and by then Free couldn't stop thinking about what he had just done. Eruka glances at the male nervously and then looks away. Looking down at his hands, Free shivers. Blood. He had blood on his hands. "I…I didn't mean to do it. It just happened." The incident that occurred just moments ago was still running through his head.

He and Eruka had been running from Kid and while they ran, Soul and Crona were up ahead in front of them. Soul had been determined to block them off and stood firm in their path. Thinking of nothing else, Free had clawed at Soul and he found his arm lodging into Soul's shoulder. Crona had just stood there. As if he were paralyzed the moment he saw the blood. But it had been Soul's cry in pain made the memory repeat in Free's head.

Wiping the blood off his hands, Free shivers. Looking at Eruka, he bites his lip. "I'm sorry you had to see me do that. I didn't have a choice." Backing away from Free, the frog witch looks at the floor. "You…You nearly killed the kid, Free. If its that easy for you to kill then you could easily kill me too, right?"

His eyes wide, Free quickly shakes his head. "Of course not, Eruka! I'd never hurt you! I did that to protect you! It was either him or us!"

Eruka refused to listen to him, however as she kept backing away. "Y-You're going to kill me eventually…I…I just can't stay here with you, Free. Its not safe to be with you anymore. Not after that…"

Free simply couldn't understand. _Doesn't she get that I did that to protect her!? And I didn't kill him! I just injured the brat! But…this feeling just now…is it guilt? Why…? Why do I feel so bad? _

Tears flowing down her cheeks, Eruka turns to run. "Leave me alone, Free!"

"Eruka, wait! Don't go!" Chasing after her, Free feels himself gain a new feeling. _What am I doing? Why the hell am I even chasing after her? Do…do I really care about her enough to be doing this? _

"Eruka, stop! Damn it, Eruka quit running! I want to help you!"

As he gains on her, Free quickly lunges at the witch, tackling her down. Eruka squeals and squirms around as Free struggles to pin her wrists down. Gritting his teeth, the werewolf manages to pin her. "Enough Eruka!"

Crying and shaking her head, the frog witch begins to tremble. "Just k-kill me already then…d-do it!"

Sighing, Free closes his eyes and leans down, kissing the witch on the lips. "Shut up already, Eruka…"

The sudden action catches her by surprise and she whimpers as her eyes widen. "F-Free?"

Pulling away from her lips, the wolf man gazes into her eyes. "Just…don't run away from me like that. A wolf can't let his soul mate just wander off alone…"

Sniffing and smiling weakly, Eruka lets out a nervous giggle. "A wolf in love with a frog? How cheesy is that?" Smiling softly, Free gives a nod and silences her with another kiss. "Very cheesy. Very cheesy indeed."

END OF CHAPTER 16  
DEATH COUNT: 10


	17. Chapter 17

"So what's your plan, huh Medusa? Kill the Kishin and your sister and then leave?"

Medusa groans and shakes her head. "Oh Death you're annoying. Do you ever shut up?"

Smirking, Black*Star crosses his arms. "Nope!" Rolling her eyes at him, Medusa peeks around the corner and sighs heavily. "No that isn't my plan you fool. Its not that simple. Do you really think I can kill a Kishin AND my sister all at once? I'll surely die if I try." Black*Star lets out a laugh and grins widely. "Well it's a good thing the mighty Black*Star is here! With me, we can surely kick both of their asses!"

"Oh really?"

Hearing the voice makes Black*Star tense up and turn around quickly. Even Medusa was surprised, her face filled with shock. "The Kishin! When the hell did he get here!"

Grinning from ear to ear, Asura steps forward. "So what's this talk about wanting to kill me?"

Backing away, Black*Star turns to Tsubaki and gives a nod. She quickly turns into her sword form and is grabbed by the blue haired male who turns to glare at Asura. Tilting his head, the Kishin merely smiles. "Oh please. You don't really think you stand a chance do you?"

Ignoring his words, Black*Star rushes forward. "I don't care what you think! I'll kick your ass here and now!"

Chuckling, Asura smirks and crosses his arms as Black*Star approaches him. "Do you really think you stand a chance against the one who was able to capture you in the first place?"

As Black*Star swings his sword at Asura, a sudden unseen barrier forces him back a few feet. "W-What the!?"

Grinning, the Kishin tilts his head. "Oh come on now. You don't really think you stand a chance against me, do you?"

Glaring, Black*Star prepares to charge again. "Shut up already! I'll show you just what I can do!" Before he can do anything, Medusa grabs his arm and shakes her head. "Don't be a fool. You'll get yourself killed." Pulling his arm away, the blue haired male frowns. "I don't need your opinion, you damned witch." Rolling her eyes, Medusa scoffs. "Fine, get yourself killed then."

Biting her lip, Maka stares at Soul. His shoulder was now bandaged thanks to Jackie but even so, Soul had woken up since. Jackie sighs and puts her hands on her hips. "You worry too much. He'll be fine. Just give him an hour or two." Squeezing Soul's hand, Maka shuts her eyes. "He has to be okay. He has to be…"

Sitting down next to Kid, Liz hugs her knees. She gives the unconscious shinigami a worried look. "What if he wakes up and starts trying to kill us all?" Patty tilts her head and gives her sister a confused look. "Why would Kiddo-kun do that?" Sighing, Liz shrugs and bites her lip. "I don't know…maybe I'm just losing it…"

Suddenly, everyone looks to see Maka stand up. The twin pots stare at her curiously and then exchange nervous looks at Maka's expression. Clenching her fists, Maka stares at her feet. "Soul almost died because of those two. Kid was right. We shouldn't have let them go."

Crona looks over at Maka with a scared look and shyly puts his hand on her shoulder. "Maka…?"

Snapping her head around, Maka stares at Crona with cold eyes. Yelping, the pink haired male takes a step back and shivers.

"Maka, what's with you all of a sudden?" Jackie asks. Glancing over at Soul, Maka feels her stomach tighten. "Its because of those two that Soul is hurt…"

"Well yeah but-"

"No buts! There's no way to forgive them after what they did to Soul! He may not have died right then but what if he doesn't wake up!?" Maka snaps. At the sudden outburst, Jackie looks away and walks off. Sighing, Maka stomps at the floor. "This whole game is stupid! I hate it! I hate it!"

Groaning, Kid sits up and rubs the back of his head. "Ugh…my head hurts pretty bad…What on earth-"

Kid's eyes widen as Liz quickly wraps her arms around him, embracing him. "L-Liz? What's the matter?"

Sniffing and shaking her head, Liz simply hugs him tighter. "Just shut up for a sec…"

Looking around, the young shinigami gasps as he sees Soul. "What happened to Soul!?"

Maka meets his eyes and mutters, "Those two that were with Medusa. You were right about them, Kid…"

Frowning, Kid stands and sighs. "I told you…we can't risk this happening again. Next chance we get, we capture the two and then decide what to do with them…is that clear?"

When Kid receives no reply, he takes that to be a unanimous yes. "Alright. Let's find them then."

"You heard me. Lord Death has an announcement about where the kids are" Stein repeats at a shocked and hopeful Spirit Albarn. Standing up, the red haired male rushes out of the room and goes straight for the Death room. Sighing, Stein scratches the back of his head and casually follows after him.

Pushing the door open, Spirit quickly yells out, "Where is she!? Where's my daughter!?"

Tilting his head, Lord Death gives a blank look. "Well she isn't here…but…we do know the whereabouts of your daughter and the rest of the children."

"Well don't leave me in suspense! Where's Maka!?"

Marie Mjolnir clears her throat before turning to look at Spirit. "Maka and the other children seem to be…trapped on an island…a very small and isolated island…that's why it took so long for us to find it…"

Azusa Yumi adjusts her glasses and continues on. "Thanks to the information from Tezca we were able to see that it was just off the coast of South America. It also appears that whatever is going on in the island has to do with madness. Tezca says he saw a large sphere of it surrounding the island."

"Then what are we waiting for!? Lets go then!" Spirit demands.

Lord Death puts his hand up, silencing the fiery red haired male. "Calm yourself, Spirit. We will go after them. But first I have to figure out who from the staff will-"

"I'll go! Let me get my daughter!" Spirit says loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. Sighing, Lord Death nods. "Yes I know Spirit. But you can't just go alone. I'll have to send someone else to go along with you."

"I'll go with the fool…He needs a woman to keep him in check" Azusa says with a sigh. Raising her hand, Marie puffs out her cheeks. "Lord Death! M-May I go too? I want to see the kids…"

The shinigami nods cheerfully and claps his hands together. "Yes of course! The more the merrier!"

Stepping forward, Stein adjusts his screw. "I should go too. Just in case any of the children are hurt. We can't be too sure."

"Yes that's true…good thinking Stein. You go along with them too."

Spirit gives Lord Death a puzzled look. "Wait…you're not coming, Lord Death?"

Shaking his head, the shinigami looks down. "I'm afraid not. As much as I want to see my son, you all know I can't. I have to stay here and watch over the DWMA in case anything happens."

"Oh…right…" Spirit nods and looks down.

Lord Death gives a pleased look at the staff members that volunteered to go on the journey. "Okay…I leave the rest to all of you then."

Nodding, the four DWMA staff members turn and head out. Lord Death watches them leave and then turns away to stare into his mirror blankly. "Find those kids…Find my son…"

END OF CHAPTER 17  
DEATH COUNT: 10


	18. Chapter 18

**Note: **Its been a while since I last updated this story so my apologies on that. Its been hard to update with school and everything lately especially with end of the year testing. But I will say that this story is nearing its end. Expect a few more chapters with a lot more action and possibly shocking deaths. With that, enjoy chapter 18!

Yelling in pain, the blue haired male falls back and groans, holding his stomach. "Ugh…damn that Kishin…"

Tsubaki reverts back to her human form and worryingly looks over at Black*Star. "Are you okay!?"

Black*Star slowly gets to his feet, holding his stomach. "I'm fine don't worry about me." Biting her lip, Tsubaki glances from Black*Star to the Kishin.

Grinning, Asura remains calm and stays where he is. "Like I said, you don't have a chance." The Kishin feels his smile fade as he sees Medusa looking over at the control room where he had all his cameras. Rushing forward and going past Black*Star, Asura lunges for Medusa, grabbing hold of her wrist. Taken by surprise, the witch stumbles back with Asura's iron grip still locked on her. Wagging his finger at her, the Kishin smirks. "Ah ah ah. No going in that room."

Noticing the room for the first time, Black*Star squinted as he tried to get a closer look at the cameras. Seeing the blue haired male staring into the room intently, Tsubaki follows his gaze to look at the cameras as well. The pair soon grow tense as they see their friends on the cameras. Maka and the others were all there. They also noticed two other figures in one of the camera screens. It was the two that had been with Medusa. Free and Eruka.

"Wait, Eruka. I heard something."

Stopping, Eruka looks over at Free who takes her by the hand and looks around cautiously. Hugging his arm, Eruka shivers. She suddenly felt very cold. Free said he had heard something but all she could hear was silence. "Free, what is it that you hear? I don't hear anything" The frog witch says as she nervously bites on her lower lip.

Sniffing the air, the werewolf narrows his eyes on a certain spot. Taking a step back, the male turns to look at Eruka. "We have to go. Now."

The seriousness in his tone made Eruka grow tense. Immediately after she nods, Free begins to run off in the opposite direction with Eruka nearly tripping. "F-Free! S-Slow down!"

Suddenly coming to a halt, Free curses and grits his teeth. "Shit! It was a trap!"

Confused and dazed, the female looks forward to see Crona and Jackie blocking their path. A voice behind Eruka and Free soon calls out, "No use in running now. You're surrounded." Glaring as he turns around, Free stares at Kid who steps forward with Maka, Patty, and the twin pots. Shaking, Eruka looks to her left to see Soul walking slowly with Liz supporting him.

Crossing his arms, Kid stares at Medusa's former allies and scoffs. "You two disgust me. Going as low as joining forces with the snake witch, Medusa. Plus then attacking our friend and nearly killing him."

When no one says anything, Kid goes on. "Alright, now we all have to agree on a way to deal with these two…I personally think we should kill them."

Jackie's eyes widen and she blurts out, "What!? Kill them! Are you serious!"

Maka furrows her brows a bit and crosses her arms. "I agree with Kid actually. Soul could have died…"

Surprised, Jackie gives Maka an astonished look and her jaw hangs open. Looking from Kid to Maka, Liz begins to shiver and shake her head. "No...w-we can't just kill them…d-didn't we agree we wouldn't play this game?"

"I know what we said but this is different now Liz. We've all seen things here that I would have never imagined we'd see…and its all changed my view of things" Kid explains as he glances at the ground, his fists clenched.

Liz looks over at Kid with a sorrowful glance and places her hand on his shoulder. "That doesn't mean we have to do this…"

Shrugging off her hand, Kid shakes his head quickly and grits his teeth. "No Liz! We…we have to do this! Better them than us right? I just want to go home as soon as possible…"

"We can go home, Kid! We just have to keep-"

"Keep what!? Tell me, Liz! What else can we do! Too many people have already died! Do you want to be next!?" Kid snaps furiously. Looking away and without as much as a word, Liz shuts her eyes and shivers, unsure of how to reply. Jackie glares at Kid and crosses her arms as she shakes her head. "You're wrong Kid…killing people isn't going to stop this. Killing them won't bring the dead back!"

"Would everybody just shut up for a second!?"

Soul's unexpected voice makes everyone stop and look over at him. The white haired male sighs heavily and looks over at the group. "Can you all just calm down for a moment? You've all had your say…now I want you to hear mine."

Back in Asura's hideout, Medusa lets out a shriek that makes Black*Star and Tsubaki jump.

The witch raises a shaky finger and points into another room that was next to the camera room. "W-What the hell is all that…?"

Without turning around to see the room, Asura grins and says, "Oh so you've noticed the room where I collect the dead bodies of the eliminated participants, have you?"

"Say what!?" Black*Star quickly glances at the room and feels his eyes widen with horror as Asura's statement turns out to be true. In the room were the corpses of all the dead participants who had been killed. The blue haired male gulps and clenches his stomach as he starts to feel queasy seeing the bodies of Ox and the others.

Nearly bursting into tears, Tsubaki puts a hand over her mouth and gags upon glancing over at Sid's body. "No…" She shivers and shuts her eyes as the sudden scene of Sid's death fills her thoughts.

"Hey! Tsubaki! Snap out of it!" Black*Star cries out as he shakes her shoulder. Blinking and opening her eyes, Tsubaki glances at the floor and gives a slight nod. "S-Sorry Black*Star…"

"What the hell is the meaning of this you damned Kishin! Why are there dead corpses in that room!" Black*Star demands. Cackling with laughter, Asura throws his head back and grabs hold of his hair. "Oh that's just great! Why!? It's simple! For the grand finale!"

"Grand finale…?" Medusa repeats with her brows knit. Smirking, Asura nods and licks his lips. "That's right. The grand finale. I've had this whole thing planned out. I know what I'm going to do."

"W-What are you talking about?" Tsubaki asks nervously. Chuckling to himself, the Kishin rubs his hands together. "Let's just say I'm going to attempt to bring our dead friends back to life with a bit of madness!"

The trio stares wide eyed as Asura says this. Medusa feels a tingling sensation go through her spine. "Bring the dead back to life…with madness…?"

Nodding, Asura gives the group a wicked grin. "Yes. That's correct. But hey its not all bad right? Your boyfriend Noah will be back to see you again, huh Medusa?"

The snake witch jolts up her head to give the Kishin a furious look. "What the hell did you just say?"

"Oh I'm sorry did that offend you? I thought you knew I was watching through my cameras. Heh…"

Hissing, Medusa takes a step forward but stops when Black*Star brings his hand out. "Don't. He's mine."

Glaring, Medusa turns to look at the blue haired boy. "Don't even bother trying to stop me. I'll have the Kishin's head!"

Asura smiles calmly and folds his arms across his chest as he raises his brow. "My…you must really hate me."

"Damn right we hate you!" Black*Star yells out as he turns to Tsubaki and gives her a nod. As Tsubaki turns into her weapon form, the blue haired male grabs her and rushes forward towards Asura. "Your soul is mine, Kishin!"

Right as Black*Star attacks, the sound of metal clashing is heard, forcing Black*Star to back up a few paces. "What the hell was-"

Eyes wide, his mouth drops open at the figure in front of him. "O-Ox…?"

Standing in front of Asura, with Harvar in weapon form was none other than Ox.

Tsubaki gasps in her weapon form as she notices as well. "B-But how can that be? Ox and Harvar both died didn't they?"

Grinning from ear to ear, the Kishin puts a hand on Ox's shoulder. "How do you like my revived minion? Yes he's the first I had tested to be brought back with madness. He's a mindless puppet. He'll do anything I ask of him."

Gritting his teeth, Black*Star growls. "Damn you Kishin…quit using dead people as a way to avoid me! You're just afraid that without your damned puppets, I'll kill you!"

"Hah! Me? Afraid! We'll see about that!" Asura says with a smile. "Now if you want to get past me, you'll have to get past my puppets. ALL of them!"

It was then that the rest of the dead participants suddenly got to their feet and began surrounding Black*Star and Medusa. Staring into their eyes, Medusa saw that they were a deep glowing purple with pitch black pupils. "Madness…"

"The real fight starts now!" Black*Star calls out. "We send these puppets back to death and kill the Kishin here and now!"

END OF CHAPTER 18  
DEATH COUNT: 10


	19. Chapter 19

All eyes were on Soul now at his sudden outburst. Sighing, the white haired boy furrows his brows and takes a step forward. "Look…I get that you guys are worried about me and all but…" He pauses for a moment and glances at Maka. The look of concern in her eyes only made his stomach tighten. He turns away from her and continues.

"We can't just kill people. We can't. By doing that we would be falling right into the Kishin's hands. Besides, if we want to get out of here alive don't you think we should try to have safety in numbers? I mean it couldn't hurt…"

Kid crosses his arms and ponders for a moment. As Soul looks around at the rest of the group he saw that they were far from convinced. Sighing, he kicks at the dirt floor. "This is hopeless…"

"But Soul…" A pair of hands soon wrap around Soul's wrist and he turns to look at Maka. "Those two nearly killed you. If you had made just a single mistake you would have-"

"I know Maka, I know…"

"So then why? Why are you defending them? Even you must know that if we let them live they might try something!" Maka explains. A determined Soul shakes his head and narrows his eyes. "Maka, don't you see? Killing someone…that stays with us forever. If we kill and get out of here we're going to have blood on our hands and it'll stick with us to our grave."

To this, Kid looks up finally ready to speak. "But Soul, you're forgetting we basically do kill for a living. At the DWMA we are trained and practice in order to fight witches and all sorts of monsters. And we _kill _them. So what makes this any different, Soul? They are enemies of the DWMA after all."

Soul glares at Kid and clenches his fists. "No, you're wrong! This isn't like the DWMA! We're simply killing for sport here! That's all this is! A sick game!"

Right then, Free and Eruka take the moment to run away and push past a distracted Kid. Stunned and thrown off his feet, Kid groans and sits up quickly as he glances at the fleeing pair. "Liz! Patty! C'mon we can't let them get away!"

"Right!" Patty says with a nod as she converts to a pistol and is grabbed by Kid. Hesitating, Liz bites her lip and looks from kid to the escaping couple. Astonished, Kid blinks as he stares at Liz, confused as to why she wasn't changing into her weapon form. "Liz!? C'mon we gotta do this now!"

"Y-Yeah, sorry!" Suddenly out of her trance, Liz turns into her weapon form and is quickly grabbed by Kid who turns his aim to Free and Eruka.

"No Kid!" Soul cries out as he rushes forward, blocking Kid's shot. Giving Soul a look of bewilderment, Kid clenches his teeth. "What are you doing Soul! Get out of the way!" Shaking his head furiously, a stubborn Soul refuses to move. Dazed and confused at the scene, Jackie blinks as if hoping this scene was all just a dream. "S-Soul why are you…?"

Fearing for Soul's life, Maka tries to take a step forward but is stopped when Soul puts out his hand. "Don't Maka. This is between me and Kid right now…" Groaning in annoyance, the young Shinigami shakes his head. "Soul what's your problem? Get out of the way this instant!"

"I won't" Soul says with a cold tone in his voice. Narrowing his eyes, Kid feels his fingers start to tremble slightly as they are at the trigger. "Soul…I'll only ask once more. Move. I don't want to have to shoot you…"

Once more, Soul repeats the same thing. "No." Suddenly a tinge of fear shoots down Maka's spine. _Would Kid really shoot Soul? This is starting to look worse by the second…_

Kid soon found himself biting his tongue as he heard Soul's firm 'no'. _Damn it Soul…why won't you…_

Quickly moving a few feet to the right, Kid now has a free shot at the disappearing Eruka and Free. Seeing this sudden action makes Soul lunge to the right to try and get in the way. It all seemed to be happening in slow motion. Everything just seemed to take an eternity. Soul leaping in the way. Kid's trigger fingers already in motion. Even the gunshots. It was all in slow motion.

By the time Maka realized what was happening, her eyes went wide and she let out a thundering shriek.

The sudden shriek was a surprise to Asura. The Kishin cocks his head to the right to see a scene that simply looked too good to be true. Grinning, he lets out a chuckle. "Oh how I love scenes like this."

Confused and curious, Black*Star gazes at the camera monitors and soon lets his jaw drop. He couldn't believe what he was looking at. It couldn't be real. The image of Soul's body on the floor with Kid holding his smoking pistols after firing each one. "N-No way…"

Even Tsubaki let out a heartbroken gasp, followed by quiet sobbing. "it can't be…!"

Medusa had been locked in battle with the revived contestants when Black*Star and Tsubaki's sudden mood swings came to her attention. Now her gaze averted to the camera room and it was her turn to look shocked. _What? Did those kids actually betray each other? That's certainly going to have some terrible aftermath…_

Everything on the island in that moment was still. Everything was calm. Quiet.

Maka had finally stopped shrieking and was now on her knees, panting heavily with her hands dug into her hair. "No no no…"

Kid stood in the same motion as he had right when he shot the pistols, his face frozen with horror and shock. _This is...a dream right? There's no way that just happened. It has to be a dream. Has to be. _

No one was talking. No one was saying a word. Everything that happened seemed to suck the essence out of everyone. Jackie simply stood staring at Soul's body, her eyes twitching as she did. Pot of Thunder and Pot of Fire were shivering as they held each other's hands. Even Free and Eruka had stopped running to look at the scene that just took place. Eruka brings a hand over her mouth as she sees and realizes what just occurred. "Oh my Death…Free, those kids just…"

Nodding slowly and looking away, the werewolf let out a heavy sigh. "Yeah. I know…" Taking Eruka by the hand, Free starts to walk away, with a slight shake of his head. "Those idiotic children…"

Coughing up a mouthful of blood, Soul groans in pain. Maka soon jolts to her feet and rushes to Soul's side. "Soul! Oh my Death! Please don't go! Don't leave me like this!"

Slowly looking over at Maka, a small smile forms on the Soul's lips. "Oh…yeah sorry about that Maka…I just didn't want anyone to be killed…heh…silly me, huh?"

Bursting into tears, Maka puts her face on Soul's chest. "I should have done something! I should have stopped you!" Shaking his head, Soul lifts his shaky hand to hold Maka. "This isn't your fault…not one bit. I knew damn well what was gonna happen and I took the risk."

Jolting her head, Maka turns to look at Kid with an enraged look on her face. "What were you thinking!? You idiot! Soul is in this position cause of your stupid obsession with killing them!"

Staring blankly into space, Kid slumps his shoulders and shivers a bit as he whispers, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Putting a hand on her wrist, Maka glances at Soul. "Don't take it out on him Maka…he did what he thought was right. Besides…it was an accident…he wasn't aiming at me when he had shot. I moved in his way, remember?"

Her anger suddenly changing back to sadness, Maka feels her lip quiver as tears start to brim in her eyes again. "S-Soul I need you…I-I can't live without you…please don't leave me…I'm sorry…I'm sorry for this all Soul…!"

Smiling softly, Soul's eyes begin to grow heavy and finally close as his grip on Maka starts to loosen. "Its okay Maka…I love you. Never forget that. You were the best meister I ever had…"

With those words, Maka feels his body go limp and she desperately starts to shake him. "Soul…? Soul! SOUL!?" Tears running down her cheeks, Maka sobs loudly as she continues to shake Soul, his face fading and turning pale. Wrapping her arms around his neck and clinging to him tightly, Maka lets out a scream mixed with her sobs that nearly shakes the island.

In a matter of moments, Jackie sinks to her knees and bursts out crying along with Pot of Thunder and Pot of Fire. Seconds afterwards, Kid followed their lead and let out his sorrowful and guilty sobs. Hearing Kid cry soon made Liz cry as well. The one unexpected cry however came from Patty. No one had ever heard her cry before. Her crying seemed the most devastating and heartbroken of them all.

The cries of all the DWMA students reminded them all of something. It reminded them that death was always lingering around the corner. That death would be there to take any of them at any given moment. Soul's death however seemed to cause an even greater horror. It made all of the DWMA students realize there was no hope.

END OF CHAPTER 19  
DEATH COUNT: 11  
R.I.P. Soul Eater Evans

**Note:** I know, I know, a lot of you probably hate me for this and its completely understandable. But hey I warned ya didn't I? Told ya to expect shocking deaths so…ta da! Heh…no? Yeah sorry about that but with that aside…what'd you guys think? I'd really like feedback on this chapter in general so I can kinda get a feel with where to go on the next chapter.


	20. Chapter 20

"Now do you see? Now do you understand that no matter what you do, you're all going to die!" Asura explains with a wicked grin on his face. "Shut up" Black*Star mutters as he glances at his feet.

"Why should I? You know damn well that I'm only speaking the truth!" the Kishin replies, the smirk on his face getting wider by the minute. "I said shut up!" cries out Black*Star with an enraged look on his face. Noticing this look, Tsubaki lets out a small gasp. "B-Black*Star are you okay?"

"No, I'm not okay! I'm pissed! Soul is dead and its all the damned Kishin's fault!" yells out the blue haired male as tears brim in his eyes. _My bro is dead…Soul is really…dead…_

Laughing madly, Asura folds his arms and tilts his head. "And what are you going to do about it? Are you going to kill me?" The revived contestants begin to surround Black*Star and Medusa, their eyes lifeless and filled with the madness that was keeping them alive.

"Tsubaki! We need to get rid of them! They're already dead so we can't hesitate! We have to send the dead back to where they belong!" Black*Star says as he takes a step back and eyes all his opponents. Nodding slowly, Tsubaki quickly turns into her enchanted sword mode. "R-Right!"

"Okay! Medusa you take on Noah's group and Mizune! I'll take on the rest!" Black*Star orders as he charges forward. Scoffing, Medusa raises her brow. "Ordering me around are you?" Before Black*Star can respond, Sid and Ox lunge forward to attack him. Blocking the attack, Black*Star holds his ground but is thrown back a few feet. Smirking, he gets in his ready position. "Guess I'll have to get serious for this."

Narrowing her eyes, Medusa glances over at the revived Noah along with his group. Crossing her arms, the blonde witch sneers. "Its been a while hasn't it?" When she receives no reply she smirks and puts up her hand. "I guess you revived people can't talk then. I'll end this quickly then…vector arrow!" Just as the arrow shoots up towards Noah, it is parried by Justin who brings out his blade. Glaring at the blonde priest, Medusa feels her fist clench. "Oh great…the damned psycho is back."

Engaged in combat with Ox, Black*Star finally gains the upper hand as he knees the revived meister in the stomach and then slashes his arm. 'Sorry Ox! Nothing personal!" As Black*Star continues forward towards the Kishin, Sid quickly gets in his way with his body already in motion for setting up a kick. Taken by surprise, the kick hits him square in the chest and Black*Star is sent off his feet.

Grinning, Asura lets out a exasperated yawn and rubs the back of his neck. "Oh come on you don't really think you stand a chance against my puppets do you?"

"Shut up already would you…all you do is run your mouth!" Black*Star says as he slowly gets to his feet. Tilting his head, the Kishin blinks a bit as if curious. "Oh? You still think you can defeat my puppets?"

"I don't think I can defeat them…I _know_ I can!" Black*Star cries out as he clenches his fists and glowers at Asura. Sighing, the Kishin rolls his eyes and gives the blue haired male an annoyed look. "You don't know when to quit, do you?"

Pointing Tsubaki (in her sword form) at Asura, Black*Star narrows his eye. "I will kill you! I'll kill you here and now!"

Shaking his head, Asura fold his arms. "You never learn…But…before you attempt to kill me, I have something to tell you."

"Huh?" Blinking, Black*Star gives the Kishin a puzzled look. Grinning, Asura goes on. "Well you see…I'm having a little rule to this game. The winner of this game will be able to bring one of the dead contestants back to life!"

Frowning, Medusa tilts her head. "What's the point in reviving someone if they just end up a lifeless puppet like these ones?"

"That's where you're wrong," Asura replies with a wry smile. "You see…These puppets are only lifeless because I made them that way. I gave them just enough madness to keep them alive. That is all. But if I were to focus more madness on a single person…I could fully bring back that person's ability to speak and give them back their memories!"

Eyes wide, Black*Star gives Asura a baffled look. "What are you trying to say?"

"I'm trying to say that I can fully bring someone back to life with enough madness! Think about it! I could revive your precious friend, Soul!" Asura yells out excitedly as he looks at the blue haired male. He quickly turns his attention to Medusa and points at the undead Noah. "And as for you Medusa, if you win I could bring back the one you care so much about!"

Hissing, the snake witch turns away and glowers at the floor. "Like hell you can…"

Tilting his head, the Kishin smirks. "Don't believe me? Then I'll show you!" With the snap of his fingers, Noah's eyes go from a glowing purple to their original state. After a moment of blinking, the male sorcerer locks eyes with Medusa. "W-What…? Medusa is that you? The hell is going on!?"

Her lips quivering and her eyes wide with shock, Medusa takes a step forward and extends her arm. "Noah?"

Smiling a bit, Noah takes her hand in his and gently squeezes it. "Yeah…it's me. I'm here Medusa. I don't know how but I am…"

Snapping his fingers again, Asura grins. "Okay that's enough proof don't ya think?"

With that, Noah drops his hand to the side and his eyes revert to their purple glowing state. Grabbing the male's shoulders, Medusa begins to shake him violently. "Wake up! Noah! Listen to me!"

Laughing madly, the Kishin folds his arms. "If you want him back, you'll have to win this game!"

Looking over at the blonde witch, Black*Star gives Tsubaki a nervous glance. "This isn't good…she might actually try to kill us now." Tsubaki suddenly lets out a gasp as she suddenly gets a realization. "Black*Star! What if the Kishin tells this information to the others! You don't think that they'd…"

Eyes going wide, Black*Star turns to look into the computer room and stares at the image of Maka. _If the Kishin tells Maka about this…There's no telling what she'd do to get Soul back. _

"So if I win you'll bring him back?" Medusa asks quietly. Nodding, Asura smirks at the blonde female. "Yes if you win I'll bring back Noah for you. I promise you that."

Shivering, Medusa clenches her fists as she recalls a memory before Noah's death. It had been almost half an hour since their first kiss that day.

"_Hey Medusa?" Noah calls out as he stares at the sky. Glaring at the sorcerer, Medusa turns to look at him. "What do you want?" _

_Folding his arms, the male sorcerer lets out a sigh. For some reason the sigh sounded worn out and tiresome. Tilting her head, the snake witch scoots closer to him. What? What's the matter with you?" _

_Noah slowly looks over at her and faintly smiles, his eyes filled with a sudden sorrow. This came to a surprise to Medusa and her eyes widen, unsure of what to say or do. Chuckling a bit, Noah tilts his head and stares at her. "Nothing's the matter. I'm fine." _

"_That's a lie" Medusa mutters. Blinking a bit, the sorcerer felt his smile fade. "It seems you can see past my smile…" Crossing her arms, the snake witch eyes the sorcerer warily. "Oh just spit it out. What's bothering you?" _

"_You are." _

"_h-Huh?" Medusa blinks and furrows her brows in confusion. Looking at her, Noah shakes his head. "I probably sound stupid. You're what's bothering me. It seems that you don't believe my acts of love are genuine. When I truly do have feelings for you." These words cause the blonde female to blush and she quickly looks away so that Noah wouldn't see her. _

"_Medusa. I love you." _

_Glancing at him over her shoulder, the witch gives him a shy look. "Noah…I…" _

"I've made my decision" Medusa says as she finally stops thinking about the flashback. Smirking, Asura tilts his head as he awaits her answer. "Well?"

"So this is where the Kishin is hiding the kids?" Stein asks as he and the others stare at the large, glowing dome surrounding an island. Nodding, the male with the large bear mask points at the island. "I'm definitely picking up their soul wavelength from in there."

"Well what are we waiting for! Lets go!" Spirit cries out as he starts to run. Grabbing his shoulder, Azusa sighs and adjusts her glasses. "We can't just charge in like that Spirit."

"Huh!? Why not!" Spirit demands as he glares at the female death scythe. "We need a plan first, Spirit!" Marie says quickly as she puffs out her cheeks. "But Maka could be in danger!" Spirit snarls as he shoves off Azusa's hand from his shoulder. Crossing his arms, Stein glances at Spirit. "We'll get Maka and the others back Spirit. Just be patient and trust us." Hesitating, the red haired male sighs and nods. "Fine…" He looks over at the island and narrows his eyes. _We're almost there Maka. Please hang in there. _

END OF CHAPTER 20  
DEATH COUNT: 11


	21. Chapter 21

**Note: **I apologize for my absence from this story…I've been so caught up with work and rarely have any time to do anything else. With that aside I do have to say that this story is reaching its end. This has by far been my most popular story and I'm thankful for all you out there reading and enjoying it! Much appreciated!

Grinning, the Kishin licks his lips eagerly as Medusa prepares to tell him her decision.

"Well? What is it?"

"No! Fuck no! I'm not gonna let you have your way even if you bring Noah back!" Medusa hisses angrily as she clenches her fists. His grin fading, Asura lets out a bored groan and rolls his eyes. "Oh you're all no fun! Always doing the opposite of what I want. Its rather disappointing."

Raising a hand towards the Kishin, the snake witch prepares to attack. "I've had it with you…You've driven my patience with your sick game!"

"Oho! Pardon me for driving your patience! I didn't realize you could kill me whenever you wanted!" Asura replies sarcastically with a smirk on his face. The comment only angers Medusa further as she bites down on her lip to the point when it began to bleed. "Don't mess with me you fucking Kishin. Don't you mess with me!"

Laughing, the Kishin eagerly grins seeing that he was agitating her. "What are you going to do? Kill me?"

"Damn right I am!" Medusa snaps as she lets her vector arrow fly towards Asura. Putting his hand out, Asura easily stops the attack as the arrow disintegrates.

Staring in complete shock, Medusa takes a step back. "How is that even possible…!"

Laughing the Kishin grins widely as he steps towards the witch. "You don't really think you stand a chance against me do you?"

"Hey don't get ahead of yourself you damned Kishin! You still got me to deal with!" Black*Star yells out as he leaps into the air behind Asura, preparing to slice his head. Just before he could make contact, the attack is parried and stopped by the now possessed Ox who begins battling with Black*Star. Gritting his teeth, the blue haired assassin mutters to himself. "Damn it…if it weren't for these lifeless puppets I'd have no problem fighting that Kishin!"

With a calm glance to Medusa and Black*Star, Asura lets out a chuckle that soon develops into wicked laughter. "You all crack me up…all this talk about killing me and you can't even lay a finger on me! Its pathetic really! Isn't it, Arachne?"

Medusa's eyes widen at hearing the name of her sister called. _What!? My sister is in on this!?_

Smiling pleasantly as she sat on a stool from the corner of the room, the spider witch gave a cool glance to her sister. "Yes I agree. It truly is pathetic seeing them try to kill you."

"Arachne, you bitch…" Medusa hisses in a hostile tone as she glares at her sister. Tilting her head and fanning herself, Arachne tilts her head and gives Medusa an innocent look. "What seems to be the problem my beloved sister?"

"You were plotting this whole thing with the damned Kishin all along weren't you!? And you knew I was here but didn't lift a finger!" the snake witch snarled with her eyes twitching from anger. Laughing calmly, Arachne shakes her head and smiles. "Foolish sister…this was all Asura's idea. All of it. I was merely called over as a friend. To watch his little game. And I must say it's been quite entertaining."

"I'm gonna take your soul, you lousy excuse of a sister…!" Medusa mutters as she readies her hands in attack motion.

Back on the island, Maka and the others were all still attempting to deal with Soul's death. Maka was kneeled down besides her deceased boyfriend, holding his hand tightly. No one had said a word since he passed away. Nothing but silence filled the island at this precise moment.

After a brief moment, Kid stood up and glanced over at Maka. "Maka…I-"

"I don't wanna hear it" the ash blonde haired girl snapped with her back still turned to the group. Looking down at his feet, Kid lets out a defeated sigh. He couldn't help but feel guilty for what happened. He had shot Soul. It was because of him that he was now dead.

As if reading his thoughts, Liz gently grasps her mesiter's hand and shakes her head slowly. "It wasn't your fault…you couldn't have known Soul was gonna do that." Eased by her words, Kid nodded slowly as he bit his lip and continued to stare at the floor.

Shuffling over to Maka as he played with his hands, Crona tried to find the words to attempt to comfort her. "Um…M-Maka…d-do you…need anything…?" To his surprise, Maka turns her head in his direction and looks into his eyes with her own calm green eyes. With the shake of her head she turns back to look at Soul and says, "no Crona I'm fine."

Whimpering quietly in Jackie's arms, Pot of Fire and Pot of Thunder had their faces turned away from the scene, not wanting to see the body of another lost friend. Jackie had her gaze over to Patty. The petite blonde had been awfully quiet since Soul's death. The cheerfulness and energy was almost completely drained from Patty. She was hardly herself anymore.

Deep in the forest among the island, Eruka sat on Free's lap with her gaze to the floor. Her hands began to shake and as the male werewolf notice he took her hands in his. "Easy there Eruka. Take it easy."

"How can I? This whole thing has taken a huge toll on all of us," She muttered as she let out a long sigh and shut her eyes. "Besides, nearly half of the people that started here are dead. Who's to say we aren't next? We could die right here, right now."

Eruka's sudden words sent a wave of discomfort through Free's body. "I never imagined I'd die in a place like this. Hell, I never thought I would ever die at all. I'm immortal after all" the male grunted as he looked to the side.

"I suppose one good thing has come out of all of this" Eruka said quietly. "Huh? What would that be?" Free asked curiously. As the frog witch looked over at him, she attempted to smile. "You."

Chuckling, the werewolf pulled his female lover closer to him and grinned. "You got a way with words you know that?"

"I know" Eruka smiled as she leaned forward and kissed Free gently.

Yelling out loudly, Black*Star finally manages to cut through Ox, the possessed boy falling over as his eyes began to fade. "Sorry Ox…nothing personal. But I gotta kill this damn Kishin…"

Grinning, the Kishin claps his hands together. "Very good, I'd expect nothing less from you Black*Star."

"Oh shut up already!" Black*Star mutters as he raises his sword (Tsubaki), ready to strike. "I'm gonna kill you and save all my friends!" At this, Asura laughs an almost too sinister laugh. "Really? Save _all _your friends? Even Soul?"

At hearing this, Black*Star tightens his grip on his weapon and feels his eyes slightly go uneasy. Even Tsubaki sensed something wrong as his hands began to shake. "Black*Star…?"

The blue haired male began to grit his teeth soon afterwards as he felt his veins pulsing in anger. "Shut up…don't you dare talk bad about Soul…"

"Oh sorry about that. Heh, did I anger you? I suppose I did. I mean it is your fault Soul died after all. You weren't there to help him. If only you had been there he wouldn't be dead" Asura explained with a wide smirk on his face.

"Shut up! I said shut up already!" Black*Star yells out as he charges the Kishin. Rolling his eyes, Asura merely puts out his hand. "Oh please…"

As the blue haired assassin charged at Asura, he felt himself get flung back as a sudden presence filled the air. Falling down and groaning, Black*Star quickly got to his feet as he glared at Asura. "Medusa! I hate to ask for your help but I need you to kill this damned Kishin!"

Hearing her name be called, the snake witch let out a long sigh. "Maybe you can't tell but I'm a bit busy!' she snapped as she was locked in combat with the revived Justin Law who blocked her path, not letting her get to Arachne. "If only this damned zombie priest would let me kill my sister!" Medusa snarled as she viciously attacked Justin with her vector sword. With the overwhelming amount of attacks, Justin soon found himself overpowered by Medusa who manages to cut past him.

Raising her brow, Arachne eyes her sister carefully. "My my…you've gotten stronger now."

As Medusa raised her sword to attack, the revived Noah suddenly stood in her path. Stopping, her attack hand went limp as she stared into the undead male. "Noah…"

Without hesitation, Noah swings his arm at Medusa, hitting her straight in her stomach. Staggering back and finding herself choking for air, her eyes widen and she drops her vector sword. Smiling, Arachne stands up. "Too bad. This is where it ends for you, sister."

Eyes wide, Medusa coughs out blood as Noah suddenly pierced her chest with her own vector sword. "Noah…? You…" Her vision begins to blur as she looks into the eyes of the man who stabbed her. As she looked into his eyes she saw cold, dark and empty eyes. That wasn't Noah. Not the Noah she knew. As she fell to the ground her breathing became softer, her vision fading even more at this point. Unable to speak, she stares up at the ceiling of the hideout and attempts a smile. _Noah you idiot…I'm suppose in a way I'll come to meet you. That way my soul will finally be yours to collect. Forever…_

With her last breath, she lay motionless as Arachne smiled even wider seeing her sister's corpse. "There she goes. Dead. She was always such a pitiful thing."

Seeing Medusa dead, Black*Star curses under his breath. "It's just you and me now Tsubaki…we're gonna have to do this on our own somehow."

"H-How will we do that…?" Tsubaki asked nervously with a hint of uncertainty in her tone. "You just gotta trust me Tsubaki. We can do this. We _have_ to do this! For Soul and the others! For everyone who's died here!"

"Maka, we have to go" Liz whispered as she put a hand on her friend's shoulder. Slowly looking back, Maka nodded slowly and took one last glance at Soul. Standing up, Maka takes a deep breath and closes her eyes for a brief moment. "Okay…lets go."

END OF CHAPTER 21  
R.I.P Medusa Gorgon  
DEATH COUNT: 12


	22. Chapter 22

**Note: **Okayyy…soooo…yeah I've been gone for quite a while sorry about that! But hey I'm finally back! And to make it up to you all this chapter will be longer than usual so you can all take your time enjoying the story as it concludes and wraps up! So go ahead and enjoy chapter 22!

"Maka, are you-"

"Please don't talk to me about Soul right now" Maka whispers as she continues forward shutting her eyes. Jackie lets out a sigh and keeps walking from behind Maka, with the twin pots on her side.

Looking over at Maka, Crona nervously approaches her. "M-Maka…w-where exactly are we going?"

Ignoring the pink haired boy, Maka continues forward with her gaze ahead, not even acknowledging the others in her group. Frowning slightly, Kid shakes his head. "If we go on like this we won't get anywhere. At this point we're just tiring ourselves out for nothing. Seriously Maka we need to stop now and devise a plan."

Seeing that Maka continued to ignore the group, Kid raised his voice. "Maka! Ignoring us won't bring Soul back! You know that don't you?"

"Shut up!" Maka snaps as she turns around and glares at Kid. Finally getting her attention, the young shinigami approaches her. "Listen to me Maka…I miss Soul just as much as you do. I understand you two were close but you can't-"

"I said shut up!" Maka cries out as her hand quickly flings out and slaps Kid across the face, making the shinigami stumble back in shock. Gasping, Liz and Patty stare wide eyed at Maka as everyone suddenly goes quiet. Shivering and staring at her feet, the ash blonde haired girl bites down on her lip, drawing a bit of blood. "Why did he have to die…"

Looking into the cameras from Asura's hideout, Black*Star let out a deep sigh. It seemed that Maka wasn't dealing with Soul's death very well. Sure he was upset too but this wasn't the time and place for mourning.

"I really don't see why you continue to resist me. Why don't you just go back from where you came and rejoin your friends so we can keep our little game going?" Asura asks with his head tilted, a pleased smirk on his face.

"Yes, I agree. It's pointless to try and stop us. You won't accomplish anything. You'll die here just like my sister if you don't go back" Arachne says coolly, approving of Asura's statement. "I still have to try! I can't go back now…I'm not going back until I end this damned game one way or another!" Black*Star yells out, his eyes filled with nothing but determination.

Chuckling to himself, the Kishin shakes his head, his arms folded. "My…you're a stubborn kid aren't you? You'd really go this far to save your friends? Knowing well enough that you may die here?"

Not answering the question, Black*Star gets back to his feet as he glares at Asura and Arachne, then mutters for Tsubaki who morphs into her enchanted sword mode.

"Not gonna answer my question huh?" Asura says with his brow raised.

"It doesn't matter" the blue haired assassin mutters.

"Huh?"

"It doesn't matter if I answer your question or not. Because whether or not I die isn't what I'm worried about right now" Black*Star replies as he gets in fighting stance. Grinning, Asura unfolds his arms and raises his head. "I admire your determination. Really I do. But it's a shame that you'll die here. So much potential yet this is where it ends…"

"Oh would you shut up!" Black*Star cries out as he tosses Tsubaki who quickly had turned into her shuriken form. Smirking and staying where he was, Asura let the attack graze his cheek as Tsubaki flew past him. "Heh…you missed me" Asura says quietly.

"I wasn't aiming for you!" the blue haired male said with a grin.

Eyes going wide, the Kishin quickly turns around to see Tsubaki revert to her human form as she now stood inside the control room.

"You crafty little ants…!" Asura snarls as he makes his way towards Tsubaki.

"No you don't!" Black*Star yells as he sprints towards the Kishin. Glaring as he sees Black*Star, the Kishin attempts to grab him only to be drop kicked in the face before he could do so.

Seeing the turn of events unfold, Arachne gulps and backs away headed for a nearby escape pod. "This isn't good…I can't be here if things keep going this way…" Quickly getting into the pod, Arachne pushes an inner button and locks eyes with an angered Asura for a split second before being shot off the island.

"Hey are you seeing that!?" Spirit Albarn calls out as he points at an object that shoots out towards the sky from the center of the island. Nodding, Stein rubs his chin. "Yeah I see that alright…"

"Do you think that was the students?" Marie asks hopefully. Shaking his head, Stein continues to ponder. "No it couldn't have been them. Because whatever that thing is, it isn't large enough to carry all of them."

"Unless of course they all didn't make it" Azusa points out as she adjusts her glasses. Glaring at the female, Spirit clenches his teeth and prepares to say something but is stopped when Stein grabs his arm and shakes his head. Sighing, Spirit stares at his feet and bites his lip. "Well what are we supposed to do now?"

Staring up at the sky, Stein remains silent as he rubs his chin. "We have to wait for an opening."

Glaring furiously as Arachne leaves; the Kishin grits his teeth in a rather harsh manner. "Arachne you damned witch…" Balling up his fists, Asura turns to see Black*Star and Tsubaki attempting to interfere with the game.

"No you don't brats!" he yells out, his finger extending at a rapid rate as it shoots towards the pair like a razor sharp needle. "Watch out Tsubaki!" Black*Star quickly snaps as he jumps on Tsubaki, pushing her out of the way.

Yelping and shutting her eyes, Tsubaki shivers as she feels Black*Star knock her down and cower over her.

"Tsubaki are you okay?"

Opening her eyes slowly she nods. "Yes I'm f-" Her eyes widen as she sees Black*Star's arm bleeding. Gasping, she sits up and tries to address the wound. "Black*Star! Your arm!"

Smirking, Black*Star shakes his head as he stands up. "Don't worry about it Tsubaki just focus on finding an off switch or something to this damned game." Blinking, Tsubaki stares at her meister shocked before nodding quickly and rushing to the controls. "Y-Yes of course!"

"Worthless ants…" Asura mutters as he does the same attack again, this time using multiple fingers. Avoiding the needle-like fingers, the blue haired male smirks and lands on his feet preparing for the next attack. "Bring it on!"

Gnashing his teeth together, the Kishin continued to grow even more furious by the second. "You think you can stand a chance against me? Against _me!?_ I am the Kishin, Asura! A mere ant like you cannot defeat me!"

Pressing a random button, Tsubaki gulps as the cameras suddenly go blank with a red error message flashing. "U-Uh I don't know if I clicked the right thing…"

"Don't touch my things!" Asura snaps as he narrows his eyes. _Thankfully all she did was disrupt the cameras…the game is still going and my madness dome is still up…_

"Over here dumb ass!" Black*Star yells out as he attempts to kick the distracted Asura in the jaw. "What part of you can't defeat me didn't you understand!?" the Kishin yells out as he ducks to avoid the attack and punches the blue haired assassin square in the chest. Eyes widening, Black*Star groans as he coughs up a decent amount of blood as he curls over and falls by Asura's feet.

Noticing Black*Star in trouble, Tsubaki hesitates to touch anymore equipment from Asura's control room.

"Keep going Tsubaki…" Black*Star manages to utter. "We have to end this…"

Quickly hearing his words, Tsubaki bites her lip and nods quickly, turning to the controls and randomly hitting a button.

Back on the island, Maka and the gang suddenly look up at the sky in utter awe as the dome that had been keeping them captive was suddenly disappearing. Eyes going wide, Kid kept on staring in confusion. "T-This is a dream right? The madness sphere seems to be going away…"

"Holy crap that thing really is going away! Let's make a run for it!" Ragnarok yells out as he pulls on Crona's hair. "Is this real? We can leave now?" Jackie whispers, looking around.

Sinking to her knees, Maka silently begins to weep. Staring at her in surprise, Kid kneels down beside her. "Maka…its over…we can leave."

"B-But…" Maka whimpers, wiping her tears as she trembles. _But Soul isn't here to see this…_

"You're seeing this too, right Eruka?" Free says as he looks around noticing the madness sphere was gone. "Yeah…" the frog witch nods, her hands tightly grasping Free's. Grinning, the werewolf stands and lets out a laugh. "Ah man this is great! This shit is finally over!"

Back at the hidden lair, Tsubaki tilts her head unable to tell if she clicked the right button since the cameras were still out. Asura on the other hand knew exactly what she had clicked and lunges towards her in frustration. "You lousy brats really know how to annoy me!"

"Don't you touch her!" Black*Star cries out as he manages to somehow make it to the Kishin before he could attack Tsubaki. Not seeing the blue haired male in that instant, Asura already had his attack in motion causing Black*Star to be hit instead and sent flying into the cameras. In that same instant, Tsubaki pressed another button not realizing what it would do.

The second after Tsubaki pressed the button, the entire island began to shake. Maka and the others were suddenly stunned at the sudden action and Kid loses his balance falling onto his rear. "Ah! What the Death is going on now!?"

"We need to get out of here!" Liz cries out as the ground continues to shake violently. Shivering and curling up in fetal position, Crona covers his ears. "I-I don't like this! I can't deal with this…!"

Looking over at Crona, Maka's eyes widen as she notices cracks begin to form around the ground. "Crona! You have to mo-"

A loud thundering bang is heard throughout the island as the ground begins to crumble and tear apart. "What is this an earthquake or something!?" Kid yells out as he runs off trying to get away from the destruction.

Crying out in fear and desperation, Crona jolts up and meets Maka's eyes. Rushing to get to him, Maka extends her arm. "Take my hand Crona, quick!"

"Take her hand already, dumb ass!" Ragnarok yells out pulling on the male's hair. Whimpering, Crona reaches for Maka's hand only for the ground below him to give out as he is sent tumbling down.

"Crona!" Maka shrieks, her eyes wide and fearful as she sees Crona fall right in front of her. A hand suddenly goes on her shoulder and forces her to her feet. As Maka turns around she saw it was Patty. "Maka lets goooo!" the blonde snapped as she began running while holding Maka's hand. Before she could protest, the ash blonde haired girl is forced to run not even getting a chance to go back and look for Crona.

Glaring angrily, Asura takes a deep breath. "Okay you've driven my patience enough…" Raising his hand, he prepares to strike Tsubaki. "Don't touch her…" Black*Star mutters as he attempts to get to his feet. Stopping, the Kishin turns to face him. "Ah you're still alive…I'm impressed."

"Shut up…" Black*Star whispers as he groans trying to get to his feet. Chuckling, Asura grins widely and tilts his head as he examines the male. "I don't see why you defend this female so much. She's practically useless without you using her. She'd die eventually so I'm doing you a favor."

"Don't you talk about her that way!" Black*Star yells out angrily as he stands up straight. As soon as he said this however he gasped and hunched over, coughing up more blood and groaning. Laughing, Asura approaches him in a calm manner. "Oh Black*Star come on now you should just give up now. It'd be much more easy if you did."

"I don't care if I die…" Black*Star mutters glaring up at the Kishin. "All I care about is keeping my friends safe!

Frowning, Asura kicks him across the face sending him reeling back to the ground. "You idiot. You can't save them. Nothing you do or say is going to save them."

Groaning, Black*Star tries to get up but is unable to this time, the pain being like an unbelievable amount of weight holding him down. Grinning, Asura turns his attention to Tsubaki this time who was frozen in fear. "Now then…I believe you're next."

Gulping and backing away, Tsubaki begins to panic in her mind as she frantically looks around to find something that could somehow save her. As he continued walking towards her, the Kishin licked his lips while raising his hands towards her. Finally having nowhere else to back up into, Tsubaki bumps into the controls and whimpers quietly as she tries to find a way to avoid Asura.

"Push the black button…" Black*Star manages to utter just above a whisper. Tsubaki jolts her head to look at him in surprise. "W-What?"

"Push the black button Tsubaki…" the blue haired male repeats this time a lot weaker. Turning back around quickly, Tsubaki searches frantically until her gaze stumbles upon a certain black button. _Could this be the button Black*Star is talking about..? _

Tsubaki had no way of knowing but the uniqueness of the button told her it was the one so without hesitating she pressed it much to Asura's astonishment. As soon as the button was pushed, flashing lights filled the entire lair and Asura could feel his anger turn to sudden anguish. "No, you pressed the self destruct button you fool…!" Gritting his teeth, the Kishin clenched his fists. "That button was a last resort. And you clicked it before this game ended…you'll pay…you'll all pay…"

He turned to Tsubaki angrily ready to attack her when Black*Star's hand suddenly grabbed his leg.

"Don't…hurt…her…" the assassin managed to mutter. Glaring, Asura moves his foot away making Black*Star let go. "I'll kill her now in front of you and there's nothing you can do about-"

Angrily yelling, Black*Star uses the last of his inner strength to leap up and uppercut the Kishin in his jaw, catching him off guard. After hitting Asura, Black*Star collapses, his breathing suddenly becoming very unstable.

Rubbing his jaw, Asura chuckles and stares at Black*Star. "So you still had some fight in you…I see…"

Surprised, Tsubaki sees Asura start to walk off, ignoring her and Black*Star. "Aren't you going to kill us?"

Shaking his head the Kishin grins. "No not yet…I see potential in that boy. So I suggest you leave now while you can. This place will self destruct in about three minutes." And with that he began floating off with his arms folded as he flew away from the lair leaving Tsubaki and Black*Star.

Rushing over to Black*Star, Tsubaki wrapped her arms around him and tried to pick him up. "We need to go now!"

"Leave me Tsubaki…I don't need you to do things for me…" Black*Star managed to whisper. "No I won't leave you! I can't!" Tsubaki cries out in protest.

"Tsubaki…"

'Be q-quiet! I'll find a way to get you out of here! I'll carry you if I have to!"

Back on the island, Maka and the others continue to run as the island resumes collapsing on itself. "Where are we supposed to go!?" Liz yells out as she follows behind Kid. "I don't know but we can't stop running! Not now! We stop and we're dead!" Kid replies quickly as he keeps running, not even looking back.

As Maka runs with Patty holding onto her, she notices that something was off. "Patty, wait."

"What do you mean, wait!" Patty pipes up in a rather surprised tone. Maka forces Patty to let her go by tugging her hand away and she remains still looking around. Stopping to look at Maka, Patty blinks and stares at her dumbfounded. "What are you stopping for!?"

"Can't you feel it? The ground isn't moving as much anymore. Its stopping" Maka explains. Blinking, Patty began looking around and tilted her head. "Whoa you're right, it is stopping!"

After another few moments the entire island had stopped shaking and everything was silent. Looking around, Kid and Liz stared at the damage caused by the earthquake. "Any more of that and it would have been the end for us" Kid stated blankly as he rubbed his chin.

The DWMA students gathered suddenly and stared at one another, unsure of what had happened and what to do.

"Guys?"

Looking towards the voice, Maka and the others gasp and stare wide eyed to see Tsubaki walking towards them. "Tsubaki!?

Smiling weakly she nodded. "Yes…it's me." Noticing that Black*Star wasn't with her, Kid frowned. "And where's Black*Star?"

Tsubaki's smile fading she looked to the side and held her arm. When the group received no reply, Jackie gasped. "Don't tell me he's-"

"He's alive," Tsubaki said quickly. "Badly injured but alive…"

Sighing in relief, Maka smiles a bit. "So that idiot survived huh?"

Giggling, Tsubaki nodded a bit. "Yeah…he did…"

"So what exactly happened anyway?" Patty asked titling her head. That's when Tsubaki sat down and began explaining everything that had happened including Medusa's death and Asura's abandonment of the game.

"I see now…" Kid said quietly as Tsubaki finished speaking. "So then…we can basically leave now right?" Liz asks nervously. That's when Maka stands up and shakes her head. "No! We're not leaving! Not without Crona!"

"Maka…" Jackie whispered staring at the determined female in awe. Clenching her fists, Maka shuts her eyes. "I already lost Soul to this damn game…I won't lose Crona too. I won't lose anyone else!"

Before anyone could protest, the sound of footsteps could be heard from behind them all. "I see you're all in one piece" Stein says calmly as he steps forward with Spirit and the others. "Maka!" Rushing towards his daughter, Spirit picks her up and hugs her tightly not wanting to let her go.

"Papa!? Let me go!" Maka flushed red with embarrassment as she tried to shove him off. Laughing, the DWMA students and the staff all smiled at each other, forgetting about everything that transpired on the island for a moment.

"Say…where's that Soul kid you're always with?" Spirit suddenly asks searching for Soul among the students. At the mention of Soul, Maka feels her smile fade and her eyes grow watery. Blinking and looking at his daughter, the red haired male stared at her confused. "What? What'd I say?"

"P-Papa you idiot…" Maka mutters as she buries her face in his chest, silently weeping. At this, everyone suddenly went quiet and had their heads hanging low. After a moment, Kid burst into tears along with his twin weapons. Then Jackie and the twin pots followed. Lastly, Tsubaki began to cry as well, and soon the sound of crying children could be heard throughout the island.

"We never ask any of them what happened here" Stein whispered to the rest of the staff very seriously, getting nods of approval from them.

Maka's vision became blurred as her tears streamed down her cheeks. _I thought I could get over this but…I can't. I miss you, Soul…I miss you so much…Why did you have to leave me like this…_

END OF CHAPTER 22  
DEATH COUNT: 12  
GAME OVER

**Note: **well this chapter basically concludes the story! And I know it's a bad part to end this series on so I'm gonna add a final chapter to this later when I have time so stay tuned for that! Thanks so much for the support though everyone I really appreciate it!


	23. Chapter 23

"How you feeling Maka?"

"Light headed…"

"Anything else?"

"No, that's it…"

"You sure?"

"Yes Kid I'm sure…I'll be fine."

"Alright. I'll be on my way then." With that, Kid leaves Maka's apartment, the gifts he had bought her left on her table. Sighing, Maka ran her fingers along her hair and blinked. "Two days since that game finally ended…"

Ever since she had returned to Death City, she hadn't really talked to anyone. She had stayed in her apartment and hadn't left since she came back. Even so however, she couldn't bring herself to go to Soul's room. That was the one room she couldn't find herself going into. Standing up, Maka shivered and held herself. She suddenly felt very cold and had no idea why. Biting her lip she shuts her eyes and makes her way to the bathroom where she starts the water and leaves it running, preparing a bath.

Sighing she sat on the toilet while she waited for the shower to fill with the warm water. Staring down at her feet she uttered a single word. A single name. "Soul." For some reason she couldn't make herself cry this time. She found it rather odd. She was crying all day yesterday but today she couldn't do it at this moment. It was as if her tears were exhausted.

Standing up, Maka began to undress herself as the bathtub finished filling up. Before she could get in however, a knock at her door stops her. Sighing heavily, Maka puts her clothes back on as she makes her way to the door. "I'm coming!"

Opening the door, Maka is greeted by Tsubaki who smiles kindly at her. "Hello Maka I hope I'm not disturbing you or anything." Smiling back, Maka shakes her head. "Not at all! Would you like to come in?" the young girl stepped aside offering to allow her fellow friend to step inside. Tilting her head to the side, Tsubaki shakes her head a bit. "No no that's okay. I actually wanted to ask you something."

"What is it?" Maka asked curiously.

"I was wondering if you'd like to check on Black*Star with me. He's in the hospital and I wanted to go visit him" Tsubaki replied with her usual gentle smile. "Ah I see…sure thing! I haven't exactly seen him the past day or so…it would be nice to see him" Maka agreed with a nod as she accepted the offer.

As she stepped outside, Maka looked around staring at Death City as Tsubaki talked to her. Death City appeared to be unscathed. Unchanged by the events that occurred over the past….days? Weeks? Maka already forgot how long it had been since she was in that death game.

"Maka are you alright?"

"Huh?" Blinking, the ash blonde haired female looked over at Tsubaki who had a concerned look on her face. Attempting a smile, Maka nodded. "Yeah I'm fine don't worry." Apparently the false smile didn't work since Tsubaki kept the worried look on her face despite nodding.

It didn't take long for the girls to find their destination. They approached the DWMA and walked up the steps in silence. Tsubaki's hands were both in front of her, clasped together a bit too tightly. Maka took note of that but decided not to say anything to her. _She's just worrying about Black*Star…I'd do the same if it were Soul…_

Standing outside of the hospital room, Stein stood leaning back against the door staring at the ceiling.

"Professor Stein?" Maka asked as she and Tsubaki approached him. "Hm? Oh its you two" Stein muttered quietly as he stood back up straight and stuck his hands in his lab coat to hide the cigarette he had been about to pull out. "We're here to see Black*Star" Tsubaki managed to whisper in a somewhat tense tone. Maka could tell from her voice that she had been wanting to check on him for a while.

Nodding, Stein opened the door for them. "Go right ahead. Although I'm not sure if he's awake or not."

"So how is he, professor?" Maka asked, wanting to know the extent of his injuries. "Well he sustained three broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder, a broken leg, torn back muscle, and slight head trauma" Stein explained in a cold tone. Biting her lip, Tsubaki stared at her feet at hearing the conditions of her mesiter's injury.

"But…he's still the same as usual" Stein said with a slight smile, as he twisted his screw. At this, Tsubaki looked back up and turned to Stein with a hopeful look. "Still the same as usual…?"

Nodding, Stein explained. "You know him better than anyone so you should know how he is. When I told him about his injuries he just laughed it off and bragged about how a Kishin couldn't kill him." Smiling softly, Tsubaki brushed her hair away from her eyes and beamed happily. "Good old Black*Star…"

"Well I suppose I should let you two in. Go on and see your friend" Stein urged as he stood out of the ay allowing Maka and Tsubaki to enter.

"Stein."

"Hm?" as his name is called, the professor turns to see Spirit holding a file with a rather serious look on his face. Yes what is it, Spirit?"

"I went ahead and finished up the reports from that day…there were a total of twelve confirmed deaths. Among them were several DWMA students…and Sid was one of the casualties as well" Spirit explained in a rather uncomfortable tone. Stein nodded as he stuck his hands in his pocket and gazed at the wall. "I see…Well what's done is done I'm afraid. There's nothing we can do about it now. And I'm sure Sid and the other kids are at peace now…we have to be strong for them and keep moving forward."

"Yeah…we do" Spirit agreed as he let out a heavy sigh.

"Yahoo! I see you girls came to check on your favorite pal!" Black*Star boasted as he sat up in bed and grinned widely. Sighing, Tsubaki smiled kindly and nodded. "Well of course…I was really worried about you after all. But I knew you'd be alright."

"Of course I'm alright! I'm the mighty Black*Star! Nothing can stop me!" the blue haired male yelled out proudly as he leapt up off the bed and smirked. Rolling her eyes, Maka couldn't help but smile. Despite the idiot he was, Black*Star always knew how to get on everyone's good side. "I'm really glad you're okay…" Tsubaki whispered as she planted a kiss on the male's forehead. At the sudden action, Black*Star felt himself turn red as he stumbled back. "W-What was that for Tsubaki!? W-What are you my mother or something!"

Looking down shyly, the male's weapon smiled softly and giggled. "Of course I'm not your mother. I'm your weapon, Black*Star." Folding his arms, Black*Star stared out the window to hide his blush. "Whatever…I'm still the one who has to protect you. I'm gonna transcend through God! And a God needs his Goddess…"

Blushing, Tsubaki looks up wide eyed and feels herself internally burst with joy.

"I'll be on my way now, you two. But good to see you again Black*Star. You too, Tsubaki!" Maka waved at the pair and smiled as she walked out with her hands behind her back. As the young female walked, she began to ponder about what she had heard professor Stein talking about earlier. She hadn't meant to eavesdrop but they had been talking about Crona. Of all the participants in the game it seemed that Crona's body was still missing.

_What could this mean? Is there a chance that Crona is actually still alive? _

The more Maka the thought about it, the more determined she was to go out and find him. _I already lost Soul…I'm not about to lose another person I care about. Especially not Crona. _

"Maka?"

"Huh?"

Blinking, the ash blonde haired female looked up to see Jackie approach her. "How you been?" the young weapon asked, looking at Maka with calm yet saddened eyes. And who could blame her, she had lost her meister; Kim. "I've been alright I suppose…could be better but…I'd rather not talk about what happened on that island" Maka whispered as she let out a sigh. "I see…well…have any weapons been asking you to pair up with them?" Jackie nodded as she folded her arms and looked to the side, not really wanting to get into the topic much herself. Maka hesitated for a moment. She didn't exactly like the mention of weapons. It made her think of Soul. With a sigh however, she responded. "Yes…I've gotten quite a bit of requests. But they all don't matter to me…I'll stay weaponless if I have to. No one and I mean no one will ever replace Soul…"

Jackie stares at Maka for a moment, surprised with what she just said. She opens her mouth to speak but no words come out so she just continues looking at Maka, unsure of what to say.

"So um…how are the twins?" Maka finally asks to break the silence. "Still pretty traumatized. I mean they did have to experience all that death plus they lost Kilik…." Jackie responded in a rather uncomfortable tone that told Maka that she didn't like talking about the subject. Before Maka could say anything however, Jackie went on. "But I think they're getting better each day. They have lessons with Stein and I think its helping them. Although they still have been rather clingy to me over the past days…whenever they see me they grab onto my leg."

Giggling, Maka smiled as she imagined the twin pots clinging to Jackie. It reminded her of how kids would act around their mother in a way. Pouting, Jackie narrowed her eyes. "It's not funny!" But Maka merely laughed even more as she smirked at the female. "Is too!"

"Ugh…you're such a pain, Maka" Jackie muttered as she rolled her eyes.

"So they really won't tell you anything?" Lord Death asks as he sits at the end of a round table with all the staff members around him. Azusa nodded as she adjusted her glasses. "I'm afraid so, Lord Death. No matter what we told the kids, they simply wouldn't tell us anything. They refused to talk about what happened on the island."

Nodding, Lord Death looked at the remaining staff to receive a unanimous agreement that what Azusa was saying, was indeed true. "Very well…I suppose we can't make those children tell us anything and that's okay. A lot has happened considering twelve corpses were found and some of them happened to be students who went here as well…"

"But what happens now? Are you going to pretend like this never happened?" Marie asked as she suddenly stood up. "Hmm? Well in a way, yes…We can't do anything about this I'm afraid" Lord Death explained to the death scythe. "B-But those kids need our assistance! We can't just blow this over without supporting them after all they've been through!" the blonde female protested.

"There's nothing we can do that's going to help them Marie," Lord Death said calmly. "After all they've experienced I doubt there's anything we can do. And support them? Those kids are stronger than that. They don't need to rely on us that much. This is something they have to get through on their own."

Sitting back down, Marie gives a slight nod and stares at her feet. "I understand, Lord Death…"

"Oh and one last thing Lord Death," Spirit began as he looked down at the files in his hands. "There were two others that survived whom aren't members of the DWMA."

"Who might they be?" Lord Death asked as he tilted his head and looked at the files curiously. "They were allies of Medusa, the snake witch. Free the immortal werewolf and Eruka the frog witch" Spirit replied. After thinking for a moment, Lord Death shrugged. "Ah well, those two aren't our problem as of right now. Medusa is dead and if she was who they looked to for leadership surely they don't have any more plans. We'll leave them be."

Far beyond the walls of the DWMA and exiting out of the DWMA, two figures began walking away while holding hands. One was male and the other was female. Both had long tan cloaks that covered their faces so no one could know who they were. "Are you sure about this?" the male grunted with a rather nervous look on his face. The female nodded. "Yes. I want to leave this place and be with you, Free. I may still have snakes inside of me but Medusa is dead now so there's nothing to be done about that. I just want to leave and forget about everything."

Nodding, the male werewolf looked up and gently squeezed the witch's hand. "Alright. I'll do whatever you say, Eruka. Let's get out of here." With that, the two looked at each other and shared a passionate kiss before continuing on, and leaving Death City.

Liz and Patty both sat on the steps of the DWMA, admiring the view when suddenly a familiar looking female walked past them. "Maka? Where are you going?" Liz asked as she stood up and took a step towards her friend. Turning around and noticing the sisters, Maka gave them a determined look. "I'm going to find Crona."

"You're kidding, right?" Liz asked with her eyes going wide at Maka's words. "No, I'm dead serious. I have to do this, Liz. I have to search until I find him. I heard Stein and papa talking about him…he's not dead! He's still out there somewhere…And I won't rest until I find him" Maka responded.

"Are ya dumb or something! We're coming along too!" Patty suddenly piped up to Maka's surprise. "Huh!? We are?" Liz looked at her younger sister dumbfounded. "Yup! And Kiddo is coming along too! And so is Tsubaki and everyone else! We'll find Crona together!"

Maka paused for a moment, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open. After a moment though a smile soon appears on her face. "I can't make you stay behind, so I guess its okay if you all join me."

Giggling, Patty raised her fist in the air. "Yay! Super awesome adventure time!"

Sighing, Liz smiled and looked over at Maka. "I guess I'll go and find Kid and the others. Don't you go anywhere without us, Maka."

Smiling softly, Maka nodded and put her hands behind her back. "Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere without you guys."

END

**Note: **and there you have it! The final chapter to this epic and long series! I knew the last chapter would have been a bad place to end it and probably left a lot of you grumpy so I had decided to make this. Sorry it took so long though! I will say that if you guys want….I can even add a bonus chapter of Maka and the gang searching for Crona! So keep your eyes peeled for updates! With that in mind…thank you for all the support, everyone. You've all helped me make this series something great! Make sure to check out my other fanfics if you get the chance to and with that, see ya next time folks!


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